The Ontario Provincial Police says it will launch an investigation into the iPro Realty Ltd. scandal.
OPP spokesperson Erin Cranton confirmed the investigation to Real Estate Magazine in a statement on Tuesday evening.
“The OPP has been asked to investigate this matter. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we are unable to provide further details at this time,” she said.
Demands for action are getting louder after Ontario’s real estate regulator, Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), said that iPro Realty co-founders Rui Alves and Fedele Colucci will not face charges, despite $10.5 million going missing from the brokerage’s trust accounts. The total amount missing is now $8 million, RECO has said.
iPro’s 17 offices shut down on Aug. 19, affecting 2,400 agents.
RECO’s board announced last week it had ordered an immediate freeze on iPro accounts, to “safeguard funds and secure business operations,” it said, while an independent audit into the matter by legal firm Dentons Canada LLP will begin immediately, according to a statement.
Ontario’s five largest Realtor boards have banded together in support of the Ford government’s decision to intervene in the review of the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) following the iPro Realty Ltd. investigation.
Toronto Regional Real Estate Board president Elechia Barry-Sproule, Cornerstone Association of Realtors chair Julie Sergie, Ottawa Real Estate Board president Paul Czan, OnePoint Association of Realtors president Bonnie Looby, and Central Lakes Association of Realtors president Christine Riley signed the statement calling for Ombudsman oversight of RECO.
Ontario Real Estate Association has also applauded the government’s increasing involvement in the situation.
Courtney Zwicker is a digital reporter and associate editor for REM. Based in Atlantic Canada, she has over a decade of experience covering daily business news.
Finally. Glad to see that the OPP are involved and not Peel Regional Police where Mr. Rui Alves has lots of friends.
The CEO and the rest of the board of RECO have plenty to answer for. Mr. Richer, the former registrar deserves extra special scrutiny.
RECO as it structured today should be disbanded. Trust is gone.
When did the CEO find out?
When did the Board find out?
When did the management team find out?
The lack of transparency on these questions is why the CEO and the Board need to resign.
It’s obvious they were involved long before August 19 and they threw Richer out to save themselves.
The chair shouldn’t have to stand alone. Here’s the rest of the Board:
Stephen Rotstein, Vice-Chair
Ministerial appointee
Owen Crampsie
Sector director – REALTOR
Roberta (Bobbie) Ann Drew
Ministerial appointee
Karim Karsan
Non-sector director
Sylvia Kirkwood
Sector director – REALTOR
Judy Pfeifer
Non-sector director
Jasvinder (Jessie) Singh
Non-sector director
Vacancies
One ministerial appointee
The iPro Scandal Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The collapse of iPro Realty and the disappearance of more than $10 million in deposits is shocking — but let’s not kid ourselves. This is not an isolated case of one bad brokerage. It’s a symptom of a much larger problem: an industry designed to funnel millions of dollars from hardworking Realtors into the pockets of those at the top, while leaving both agents and consumers unprotected.
Look at the numbers:
Insurance fees: Every Realtor in Ontario just paid roughly $500 in mandatory insurance — that’s about $40 million collected this year alone. Where is that money going? Who benefits?
TREB/TRREB: Marketed as a “not-for-profit,” yet it owns companies like PropTx that generate millions. Realtors are forced to pay dues for MLS access, with no transparency on how profits are reinvested.
OREA: Once about education, it now pushes mandatory programs like a health plan that was shoved down Realtors’ throats without real consultation. Meanwhile, Humber College handles the licensing courses OREA used to run, so what exactly are Realtors paying for now?
RECO: Supposedly the watchdog protecting consumers. Yet its board includes Realtors, and when iPro collapsed, RECO chose not to prosecute. If RECO can’t or won’t enforce the law, what is the point of its existence?
Meanwhile, Realtors — the people actually working 7 days a week, paying their own gas, marketing, staging, desk fees, and taxes — carry all the financial burden. Consumers are told their deposits are “safe” in trust accounts, but as iPro shows, that promise is meaningless without real oversight.
The truth is, the real estate industry in Ontario has become a money-making machine for regulators, boards, and associations — not for the agents, and certainly not for the public.
Until government tears down this broken structure and replaces it with transparent, accountable regulation, scandals like iPro will not be the exception. They will be the future.
Well said!!!!
Amen why do we need to pay for mandatory insurance for our health?