Toronto lawyer couple sentenced to jail for contempt over millions in missing homebuyer funds
CBC
A Toronto lawyer couple have been sentenced to jail for contempt of court after months of failing to obey orders to provide records and information about millions in funds missing from their firm's trust account.
Husband and wife Nicholas Cartel and Singa Bui were ordered Friday to serve 30 days in provincial custody.
It's rare, but not unprecedented, for lawyers to be jailed for contempt, and usually only happens in the most extreme cases, legal experts previously told CBC News.
Cartel's sentence is effective immediately. He was handcuffed by a court officer and taken out of a Toronto courtroom just after 2:30 p.m.
Bui will serve her sentence immediately after Cartel, starting on Nov. 26.
The couple and their law firm, Cartel & Bui LLP, were sued by 25 homebuyers and sellers after more than $6.5 million of their money was embezzled from the firm's trust account, mostly between April and December 2023. Many of those plaintiffs have already obtained default judgments.
The judge said he would not simply order fines for the contempt given that the two lawyers already owe millions of dollars to the plaintiffs.
As part of the lawsuits, various judges, going back to January, had ordered Cartel and Bui to make full disclosures of their and their firm's finances and to answer questions about where the missing money went.
But in findings released in late August, Superior Court Justice William Chalmers ruled that while the couple "must know what happened to the funds, they have refused to provide this information." He said Cartel and Bui "have taken active steps to hide their finances and to frustrate the court."
In his sentencing ruling read aloud Friday afternoon, Chalmers said that "Mr. Cartel and Ms. Bui have not shown remorse for their conduct."
"The defendants continue to ignore court orders and make misrepresentations to the court," he said.
He also outlined aggravating factors such as the fact both defendants are experienced lawyers and are therefore highly familiar with the court system and the importance of complying with court orders.
Moreover, Bui's travel history — now available after she finally surrendered her passport — shows that she flew to Zurich, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy, the same month the bulk of the funds went missing, the judge noted.
Bui also flew to Portugal in late September and returned in October, court heard — four months after Justice Chalmers ordered her to surrender her passport so that she wouldn't leave the court's jurisdiction.
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