Suspended mortgage broker now facing lawsuits for millions

While provincial and police investigators probe the business dealings of suspended Hamilton mortgage broker Dinesh Khanna, some of his former clients are now suing him for millions.

New civil lawsuits filed in a Hamilton court in recent months allege that Khanna (who is also known as Dennis) and his company Metro Financial Planning Inc. loaned money to people who desperately needed it, failed to disclose financial transactions he then carried out in their names, and eventually took control of their properties when the plaintiffs defaulted on mortgages he arranged.

In one case it is alleged he rented out the home after taking possession from the owner. Cumulatively, the plaintiffs in three lawsuits reviewed by CBC are suing for over $2 million in damages.

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Khanna's wife and another man are also named in some of the separate lawsuits. 

None of the claims have been tested in court. Brian Duxbury, an attorney representing Khanna in tribunal hearings for his brokerage licence, did not respond to requests for comment.

Calls and messages to the Metro Financial Planning office went unanswered. Other attempts to reach Khanna at what is believed to be his home were unsuccessful.

Hamilton police confirmed in March that an ongoing fraud investigation into Khanna's conduct is underway. No fraud related charges have been laid.

No statements of defence have been filed, save for on one case, where a one-page notice to defend was brought forward.

Lawsuit claims Khanna 'victimized' client

In the most recent statement of claim filed on Aug. 29 of this year, plaintiff Stacey Crawford is seeking aggravated and punitive damages for fraud, as well as damages for conspiracy and lost equity.

According to court documents, Crawford says she met with Khanna at his Metro Financial Planning office in Hamilton in March of 2011, seeking a loan to pay off some existing debts. She says the two verbally agreed on $34,000, of which $2,000 was to be a broker's fee.

"Stacey agreed to this fee," the statement reads. "There was no discussion of a mortgage … she received no paper from [Khanna] or anybody else respecting the loan."

The suit alleges Khanna then "victimized" Crawford by "fraudulently creating" and registering a $65,000 second mortgage with a company called 112 Inc. without telling her.

The statement further alleges that the owner of 112 Inc. assigned the mortgage to Khanna's wife Veeru, who then "improperly [transferred] the title" of Crawford's home to Khanna.

"The first time the plaintiff learned that this alleged second mortgage was on her title to [her home] was on or about September 27, 2013 when Dinesh attended [there] and told Stacey there was a default judgement against her for $37,000 on a mortgage and that if she didn't pay it she and her family would be evicted," court documents read.

Crawford was living with her husband and two preschool-aged children at the time, and was now under threat of eviction from her own home, the lawsuit alleges.

It was then, it says, that she agreed to Khanna's demand that she pay $3,000 a month in cash to reduce her "alleged" mortgage debt for six months — which she did, from October 2013 to March 2014.

"In March 2014, after Dinesh received the sixth $3,000 cash payment, [Khanna] attended the … property and demanded possession from Stacey," the lawsuit reads.

According to court documents, Crawford did leave, and moved into another home she acquired with no down payment from Khanna's wife, Veeru.

'The humiliation we have had to face has been horrible'

In another lawsuit filed by Janice Abdilla, she says she is seeking $1.5 million for the loss of her home, as well as personal, physical and emotional damages.

In her statement of claim, Abdilla alleges that her dealings with Khanna ripped apart her life, and she has "never recovered." 

"Financially my credit is destroyed over this whole affair, physically I fell in both physical and emotional distress with my blood pressure that I am medicated for and emotionally that I have been to and continue to be counseled for," Abdilla wrote in the suit.

"My relationships with my children, my ex-boyfriend and my friends have been strained. The humiliation we have had to face has been horrible."

Abdilla's lawsuit also alleges she went to Khanna looking for a loan, and that he took out a second mortgage on her home. She too, says she ended up evicted from her own home.

"My home upon eviction became a rental property, one of 165 held by this group in Hamilton," she wrote. "Within a week he advertised it on Kijiji and rented it out for $1,500/mo. plus utilities."

Khanna's licence and the licence of his brokerage were both suspended by provincial regulators late last year after complaints about his practices started surfacing.

Provincial regulators allege that he carried out a "pattern of manipulation and exploitation" of his clients. In the months after his suspension, some of his former clients talked about banding together with a class action lawsuit, but to date, none has been filed.

Khanna is also facing four counts of sexual assault, one count of extortion and one of communicating for the purposes of prostitution.

Police allege he asked female clients for sex in exchange for help with mortgage issues they faced.

The Better Business Bureau issued an F to Metro Financial Planning Inc. in November 2012, saying that the business has claimed it was BBB-accredited and used the BBB logo when it wasn't, even after being told to stop.

adam.carter@cbc.ca