border-color: #38a6c1; .td-smart-list-button:hover, In addition to $2-million in proceeds that allegedly flowed from the phony companies to Mr. Anastasio, forensic auditors also allege they have traced $5.2-million that flowed to Mr. Aquino from 2014 to 2019, court records show. But the issues with him were much more extensive than $65,000 in false invoices. .author-box-wrap .td-author-social a:hover, Last week, The Globe published a story about the unsealed records evidence that was compiled by Zurich Insurance Company Ltd., the multinational company that issued more than $1-billion in construction surety bonds to Bondfield. Mr. Georgious lawyer said her client denies any wrongdoing. Two days later, they returned with new scores, and this time Bondfield had moved into third place, replacing Turner Construction, which had been knocked down to fourth. On Oct. 24, 2015, Mr. Aquino also tried, unsuccessfully, to get a Bondfield employee, who was married to a Toronto Star journalist, to persuade The Star to interview him in an effort to counter attack The Globe. htmlTag.className += ' td-md-is-iemobile'; Steven Aquino replied that, yes, his brother told him he had paid Mr. Marafioti in connection with Bondfields work at Sunnybrook. He was released with a next court date of Jan. 6, 2021, Pattenden wrote. The Globe quoted Steven Aquinos testimony in a letter to Mr. Marafioti, but he did not address it in his response. .single-product .product .summary .cart .button:hover, This included landscaping his yard, demolishing his driveway, carpentry inside his residence and working on his gazebo. But what few outside of Bondfield knew, until Zurich filed its materials in court, was that, over the years, Mr. Aquino had ordered his staff to perform many hours of free labour at Mr. Georgious house in north Toronto. }, Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. .tds-button5:hover .tdm-btn-text, font-weight:normal; The paper, which has been following developments with the major Vaughan, Ont.-based contractor closely, noted none of the allegations have been proven in court. body .td_block_list_menu li.current-menu-ancestor > a, Since then, John Aquino has emerged as a central figure in the fallout from Bondfields collapse. Zurich, however, contends this was far more sinister. Directory of Profiled Business People: John Aquino Apple, Gabriela - Arabic, Call > Aquino, Jeremiah - Aquino, Kaua > Aquino, Johannes - Aquino, John christopher > Aquino, John 1-25 of 296 Contacts A pedestrian passes the St. Michael's Hospital emergency entrance this past fall. That was not the only e-mail in which Mr. Georgiou used the word we to describe Bondfield. Our Toronto office acts for Ernst & Young Inc., as monitor in the CCAA proceedings of Bondfield Construction Company Limited and various affiliates. } He said he had never personally profited from the scheme, but acknowledged distributing part of the proceeds, in cash, to a friend who had asked him to issue the invoices. } As the deadline for the final bids crept closer, Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou continued to exchange messages on the secret BlackBerry and Mr. Georgious bondfield.com e-mail account. a.vc_btn-black.vc_btn_square_outlined:hover, The Mareva was brought against John Aquino by Ernst & Young Inc., in its capacity as court-appointed monitor of Bondfield Construction Company Limited. Earlier, he worked as a journalist and sub-editor, including a stint on the Bulawayo Chronicle in 1979-80, during the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. .td-subcat-filter .td-subcat-dropdown:hover .td-subcat-more, 3. .td-trending-now-wrapper:hover .td-trending-now-title, .td-rating-bar-wrap div, [16] In October 2018, BCCL's primary lender, Bridging Finance Inc. ("Bridging"), called in its $80,000,000 loan. Manipulated invoices for the renovation and improvement of Ralph Aquino's G, residence approved by Steven Aquino and Ralph Aquino and paid for by Bondfield Construction Company Limited Photo of Steven Aquino, John Aquino, and Joe Anastasio, amongst others, at the H World of Concrete Exposition in January 2017 Toigo voted against Bondfield design, Mr. Aquino wrote. .post .td_quote_box, .vc_tta-container .vc_tta-color-grey.vc_tta-tabs-position-top.vc_tta-style-classic .vc_tta-tabs-container { if ( !!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident. background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(0,0,0,0.8) 0%, rgba(0,0,0,0.7) 100%); .td_block_template_5 .td-block-title > *, Under questioning by Zurichs lawyer, Matthew Lerner, Mr. Aquino acknowledged Bondfield performed all of this work free of charge. Zurich also discovered that when The Globe began publishing stories in September, 2015, about the close ties between the two men, Mr. Aquino ordered his IT staff to wipe all references to Mr. Georgiou from the companys e-mail server. var td_pass_pattern_incorrect="Invalid Pass Pattern! this.max_num_pages = 0; //from wp .td-weather-information:before, Despite being terminated with cause the result of which was supposed to be the full termination of all of his compensation Mr. Georgiou received his full salary for another 18 months. After publishing its first piece, The Globe learned that, at the same time Mr. Georgiou had been evaluating bids for the St. Michaels project, he had also been working on the side for companies owned by Mr. Aquino. background: -o-linear-gradient(top, rgba(0,0,0,0.8) 0%, rgba(0,0,0,0.7) 100%); The next Globe story, published on Sept. 24, 2015, detailed this conflict of interest, and Mr. Georgious failure to disclose his ties to Mr. Aquino before the procurement. Click here to leave a comment! var td_email_user_pass_incorrect="User or password incorrect! Mr. Aquino did not specify when the work began, but suggested it started while Mr. Georgiou was a senior executive at Infrastructure Ontario the procurement agency that had awarded Bondfield several contracts, including multiple hospital projects and some of the facilities for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. These are often referred to as SLAPP suits (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation). As Vice President of Project Development, Alessandra is involved in the earliest stages of projects, from preliminary costing to planning of the construction efforts. Mr. Dipede wrote that Mr. Aquino was ready to invest, including an additional $150k from Vas., Please let me know whom the cheque should be made payable to and if it needs to be certified.. var tdDateNamesI18n={"month_names":["January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"month_names_short":["Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"],"day_names":["Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday","Saturday"],"day_names_short":["Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat"]}; For its part, Unity Health spokeswoman Sabrina Divell told The Globe that St. Michaels had no knowledge at the time about the work done on Mr. Georgious home. .wpb_text_column blockquote p, Derrick Toigo, then a senior vice-president with Infrastructure Ontario, refused to approve Bondfields bid. .td_block_template_13 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, Suppliers, upset about payment issues, stopped delivering products. John Aquino was the directing mind of Bondfield Construction Company Limited (BCCL), a construction company that operated in and around Toronto, as well as its affiliate, Forma-Con. Bondfield, now insolvent, grew rapidly in the middle of the last decade. #bbpress-forums #bbp-single-user-details #bbp-user-navigation li.current a, If the insurance giant is successful, it raises questions about who will ultimately pay for the redevelopment, which is 3 years behind schedule and has left the hospital with an unfinished project in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article was published more than 1 year ago. Funding will go By Susanna McLeod a.vc_btn-black:hover, Is it fair to say you were doing this as a favour to him because of his role and influence at Infrastructure Ontario? Mr. Lerner asked. background-color: #38a6c1; The fraudster shareholder was John Aquino. .td_block_template_1 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, A Roman Catholic religious order founded the hospital on Bond Street in the 1890s.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail. He is an actor, known for Blow Out (1981), And Justice for All (1979) and Ryan's Hope (1975). .logged-in-as a:hover, border-color: #38a6c1; .td_wp_recentcomments a:hover, But in an e-mailed statement, he said he conducted himself in a completely ethical and professional manner in all aspects.. } They also sometimes obtain a courts permission to execute civil search warrants on residences and businesses what is known as an Anton Piller order. Zurich, citing this alleged corruption, is seeking a court order rescinding the bonds it issued on the St. Michaels contract. This backchannel was in contravention of numerous procurement rules, and if anyone discovered the e-mails, it would mean trouble for both men. You will receive an email to confirm your subscription, just to be sure this is your email address. Turner Construction has an office in Toronto, but is headquartered in New York. Lets see what other lawyers think of the strength of your case, he wrote. That ruling has been appealed and a decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal has yet to be released. Despite Bondfields failure to produce the e-mails, The Globe was successful in quashing the suit in Ontario Superior Court in 2018. Six days before The Globe published its first story, word was out that reporters were beginning to ask questions about Mr. Aquinos ties to Mr. Georgiou. If not for this change in scores, Bondfield would not have been qualified.. The problem was that neither company, both of which were owned by Mr. Georgious family, had actually performed any work. John Aquino, the former chief executive officer of Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd., was a domineering boss who was used to getting his way. It is the first major test of the capabilities of the SFO, which was created in 2018 in response to criticism that law enforcement has struggled to properly investigate and prosecute complex white-collar crime. .tds-button6 i, Now, St. Michaels just needed someone to manage the project. .widget_display_topics .bbp-author-name, .sf-menu > .current-category-ancestor > a:after, As for St. Michaels, the hospital settled its wrongful dismissal lawsuit with Mr. Georgiou. Mr. Georgiou had a heated argument with Mr. Toigo, which one witness described as a raised voice discussion.. By 2016, the project was already falling into disarray. .tdm_block_pricing .tdm-pricing-feature i, Mr. Aquino recently completed his term as Chair of the OGCA, and demonstrated great leadership throughout the past year in supporting issues on behalf of all members, in many instances putting his company's interests on the line to support our members. St. Michael's Hospital in 2015, the year that Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd. won a contract to manage a major redevelopment there. Mr. Aquino exchanged e-mails with Bondfields chief financial officer, Domenic Dipede, who also kept track of Mr. Aquinos personal investments. Bondfield sued the Globe. So much of what Runnymede Healthcare Centre does would simply not be possible without the helping hands and open hearts of the hospital's generous donors. As far as your story goes, I wont provide any information on the victims, in order to protect them, Pattenden wrote to OCN. "; })(); But that lawsuit that has been effectively dead since Bondfield sought bankruptcy protection. In an e-mail, a spokesperson for the hospital said it is co-operating fully with the investigation and has retained a law firm to investigate. 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