Who are the people accused of defrauding London Health Science Centre out of millions

As officials try to make sense of an alleged multi-year fraud engineered so several people could personally profit from money meant to be spent on keeping London's hospitals running, CBC News dug into the people accused in the scheme. 

A lawsuit filed Wednesday names a former senior executive and his close associates, alleging they created companies that then bid on construction projects that were either not done, done shoddily, were overpriced, or should not have won the bids because of irregularities. 

The London Health Sciences Centre is seeking $50M in damages, as well as all the profits that those named in it made, and all of the salaries that each made during the time the alleged fraud was being run. 

A second lawsuit names three former executives and a consulting firm, accusing them of knowing about the fraud but not doing anything about it. 

None of the allegations have been tested in court, and the defendants have not yet responded to the claims. CBC News has attempted to contact all of the people named but did not hear back, or comment was declined.

Here's what we know about those involved in the alleged fraud scheme: 

Dipesh Patel 

• Served as a senior executive at LHSC responsible for facilities management between 2013 and 2024. His salary was $335,051 when he was fired last year.
• He was responsible for new construction, tracking use of space, maintaining architectural drawings, and facilities maintenance. 
• He oversaw the demolition of the South Street Hospital, which is now being turned into a residential complex. 
• Patel, alongside other London Health Sciences leaders, collected the London Chamber of Commerce's 2023 business achievement award in environmental leadership. 
• Alleged to have improperly given major contracts to Soni's companies, circumventing procurement protocols, falsifying documents, making off-record payments for no legitimate reason, inflating invoices, charging for work that wasn't performed, and creating fictitious personas to conceal who was behind the fraudulent scheme. 
• Allegedly coordinated with other defendants to add companies his alleged co-conspirators owned to the hospital's "vendor of record" list, which were then awarded contracts. 

[Patel] exploited his senior executive role to orchestrate a massive fraud by misusing confidential information, abusing procurement authority, and secretly profiting at the expense of the institution he was duty-bound to protect."- LHSC's statement of claim

• Since 1998, owned or currently owns at least 22 properties worth almost $9.5 million. Seventeen of those properties were purchased after 2017 and are considered "suspicious" by hospital lawyers. 
• Patel was fired on a without-cause basis with a year of severance on Aug. 18, 2024. LHSC stopped paying in late February 2025 because of the fraud findings. 
• Court documents say his involvement constituted "a flagrant betrayal of his fiduciary duties" and that he was "secretly profiting at the expense of the institution he was duty-bound to protect." 
• CBC News went to the address listed as belonging to Patel and his wife, but no one came to the door. There was a Lexus SUV in the driveway and a neighbour said the couple lived in the home.  

Paresh Soni 

• The lawsuit alleges he is involved in several companies that provided services to LHSC between 2013 and 2024. 
• He's a "close personal contact" of Patel's and they share business dealings and common friends. 
• Soni is also the executive director of Hindu Legacy, an advocacy group formed in 2022. As part of the organization, he advocated for London to allow fireworks for Diwali. 
• The companies he allegedly owns or owned are BH Contractors, which was incorporated in June 2015, and GBI Data, which did business as GBI Canada between October 2012 and October 2017.
• GBI Facilities management was incorporated in 2016, GBI Construction was incorporated in 2021. He is the proprietor of three other numbered companies associated with his real estate holdings. 
• Along with Patel and Lall, he was allegedly involved in evaluating which companies would get contracts. 
• He allegedly drafted a "competitive bidding exemption" that justified giving contracts without competitive bidding, circumventing the hospital's procurement processes. 
• Since 2011, Soni owns or has owned at least 43 properties worth more than $14M. Forty-two of those were purchased after GBI won significant multi-year contracts from LHSC. 
• CBC News went to the home listed as Soni's in the lawsuit. An older man who answered the door said Soni no longer lived at that address and declined to comment further. 

Derek Lall

• Worked at LHSC as the director of facilities between 2014 and 2023, earning $182,115 in his last year.
• He reported directly to Patel for the duration of his career at LHSC.
• He was fired in December 2023 without cause and is still listed on the 2024 Sunshine list, making $182,115, because of a severance he got. (LHSC is trying to get that money back). 
• In February 2025 he was told that his termination would be treated as "after-aquired cause," because of the discovered fraud. 
• His responsibilities included making sure that projects complied with the health ministry's "capital planning manual" and all applicable building codes. 
• Along with Patel, Lall was allegedly "heavily involved" in looking at bids by companies for work at the hospital, and allegedly helped Patel award a three-year, $1.1M contract to GBI in 2017. 
• Lall previously worked for St. Joseph's Health Care in their facilities department as a "project consultant" from 2002 to 2011 but did not have authority to approve invoices or award contracts, a spokesperson said. "As such, we will not be investigating the potential for fradulent activity at this time." 
• In spring 2020, oversaw the creation of the emergency COVID-19 field hospital at the Western Fair Agriplex as part of his LHSC duties.
• CBC News went to the Dorchester home listed as Lall's in the lawsuit. A young woman and middle-aged man came to the door but closed it when they saw a reporter. 

Nilesh Modi aka Neel Modi 

• Lives in Toronto. 
• Worked in Toronto from September 2014 to February 2025. 
• Reported to Patel when he was hired in 2014. 
• Fired for cause in February 2025 "on the basis of gross and wilful misconduct, namely, his involvement in the fraudulent scheme," according to the lawsuit. 
• The lawsuit does not set out what Modi is alleged to have done. 
• On LinkedIn, Modi says he improved communication in the facilities management and support service department. 

Through my work, we've brought about change to improve financial responsibility, investment in infrastructure renewal, and increased collaboration.- Neel Modi

• As well as helping the facilities department break out of its "silo mentality," Modi writes that he assisted with reports and briefing notes to senior leadership to inform and build support for corporate strategies and priorities. 
• On his website, Modi describes himself as a "communications professional" with more than 20 years of experience in non-profit, health care, and arts organizations. 
• CBC News has reached out to Modi but has not heard back. 

The companies

• The lawsuit alleges that Soni's companies — GBI Facilities Management, GBI Data, and GBI Construction, as well as BH Contractors – were awarded "multiple major contracts" beginning in 2013, shortly after Patel started working as the vice-president of facilities management. 
• GBI was awarded "significant contracts" valued at more than $11 million, according to the lawsuit. 
• GBI billed LHSC for more than $300,000 in consulting services relating to a reporting system called FMX that did not exist, the lawsuit states. 
• The hospital awarded GBI a three-year contract for facilities work in 2016 valued at more than $1.1 million, despite lack of qualifications, relevant experience or insurance, and no valid Workplace Safety and Insurance Board certificates. 
• The BGI contract was increased by $400,000 per year, and another 2022 contract valued at $1M per year was awarded. 
• Between 2013 and 2024, GBI got more than $11M from LHSC for facilities management 
• Over a decade, BH Contractors was awarded contracted valued almost $30M. 

Investments in infrastructure are starting to pay off- Dipesh Patel, from an LHSC report about allegedly flawed window replacement

• Patel added BH Contractors to a list of companies authorized to procure goods and services. 
• In 2016, a massive contract to replace windows at University Hospital was awarded to BH Contractors despite multiple irregularities with the bid. LHSC paid almost $22M for the window replacement contract, more than $10M above the initial bid and more than $9M more than an independent cost estimate. 
• The window replacement was touted in a report written by Patel and posted to Modi's website in 2017. "This year, after many roof replacements and window replacements, we had no issues following a severe rain and wind storm in early 2017. Investments in infrastructure are starting to pay off," Patel wrote in a report. 
• Since then, the lawsuit states, there have been issues with the quality of the work done on the windows, leading to water leaks and insects.  
• Some documents were signed by "Paul Smith," a fictitious alias used by Soni or other unknown people at BH Contractors, according to the lawsuit. 
• LHSC cut ties with GBI in September 2024 and with BH Contractors in June 2025.