The Law Society accuses the lawyer of a crime

Falletta was the subject of a Hamilton Spectator investigation into allegations by a St. Catharines business magnate that $1.5 million of his investment had disappeared from an attorney's trust fund.

When the story came to light in July 2023, the law society had ordered a “mixed suspension” of Falletta's license while it conducted a full investigation. The emergency suspension was imposed indefinitely because Falletta posed a “significant risk” to anyone who invested in him, the law society said.

At the time, Hamilton police declined to investigate.

However, immediately after The Spectator story was published, the Hamilton Police Major Fraud Unit launched an investigation into the missing trust fund money. Police say they “can confirm that detectives are actively investigating the case and that the investigation is ongoing.”

Toronto police said they have not yet arrested Hook and he may be out of the country.

“His father is ill and is being treated in Bangladesh,” investigators recently told The Spectator. “Unknown if Hook didn't go.”

A third person implicated in the scheme, disgraced Hamilton family attorney Robert Otto, was fired.

In June 2022, Otto, who had just settled several divorces from real estate developer Arthur Ellis, asked if he wanted some quick bail money.

If Ellis gives Falletta $1.5 million over 21 days — loaned to Huq as collateral for an Ontario government loan he applied for to help his trucking business — he'll get back the principal plus $150,000. The money was never supposed to leave Falletta's trust fund.

Viewers learned that the grant application was fake.

And Hook and Falletta seemed to be personal friends. A viewer saw a photo posted on social media of Falletta and Hook posing together at the Toronto Maple Leafs game on April 9, 2022 at Scotiabank Arena.

Ellis wrote a check and although he was paid the $150,000 “fee,” he never saw the rest of the money. That $1.5 million was pledged to fund an expansion of the women's shelter in St. Catharines.

In an interview with the Law Society of Ontario, Falletta said she was duped into paying back money by a mysterious man who visited her office at Centennial Law Group, where she was a partner.

However, Falletta never reported the missing money to the police.

Centennial Law Group has had its share of challenges. In 2018, a man was convicted of arson after a law office was set on fire, but police never revealed a motive. Last month, Centennial was the target of a cyber attack by a ransomware group known as Medusa. The data was stolen, but partner Philip Cook said it was not sensitive and was hacked from an old computer and it was simply disconnected. However, an investigation by dark web viewers found leaked data from the legal team, including photos of driver's licenses and passports, an image of a check for hundreds of thousands of dollars printed with the firm's banking information, and a recent letter. sale of property by the firm.

Unable to get the police to investigate his missing money, Ellis filed a civil suit against Falletta and won. The attorney, who lives in Ancaster and boasted of owning a Lamborghini and a Ferrari to Ellis, challenged the refund order.

Last November, Falletta filed a motion to modify the terms of his suspension to allow him to continue practicing law under the supervision of another Hamilton attorney, Robin McCourt.

This proposal was later withdrawn by Falletta.

On March 1, the Law Society filed seven charges against Falletta, including criminal conduct and:

• Three incidents of withdrawals in Falletta “for the benefit of another client” from trust accounts belonging to three different individuals: $944,000 between March 11 and 15, 2022; $1.05 million between April 7 and May 7, 2022; $1.5 million between June 11 and December 16, 2022.
• Failing to cooperate with three investigations by the Law Society of Ontario by “failing to promptly and fully respond to an investigator's written request for information, books and records” beginning December 5, 2022.
• Between March 11 and December 5, 2022, he “used a trust account for purposes unrelated to the provision of legal services.”
• Failure to maintain proper books and records from March 11 to August 23, 2022.

A viewer reached out to Falletta, but did not receive a response. He also reached out to Hamilton lawyer Frank Alfano, who represented Falletta in community affairs. Alfano did not answer.

Alfano, as it turns out, faces its own challenges.

The Law Society of Ontario suspended Alfano's license effective March 26.

He did so “on the basis that there was a risk of serious harm to members of the public or the public interest in the administration of justice” if he was allowed to continue to practice pending a full investigation into the allegations of wrongdoing. .

The law society alleges that Alfano failed to appear in court, order court records, file an appeal, lied to the court and his clients and generally “failed to provide client service” in the three driving violation cases. standard of competent paralegal”.

Documents released to the Law Society say there are eight other investigations into allegations of “significant misconduct” against Alfano.

Some of those eight investigations stemmed from events that occurred while Alfano was under investigation.

These allegations include: failure to serve clients in accordance with the standards of a competent paralegal; misleading customers; inability to communicate with clients; failure to follow client instructions; prevent unauthorized practice/provision of legal services; failure to account for client funds and – similar to Falletta – misappropriation and/or misappropriation and/or misappropriation of trust funds.

The Law Society of Ontario says Alfano is not cooperating with its investigation. He says he is a law student and also a lawyer, which “thus creates uncertainty about the rules that apply to him.”

Osgoode Hall records show Alfano graduated from law school in February 2023 with a master's degree.

He had been in trouble before.

In 2019, the Law Society Tribunal found him guilty of professional misconduct.

The documents show that his marketing was unprofessional and untrue. “We just win,” his ads claimed, “offering a record of success,” which is not accurate.

And in a traffic ticket blog he posted, Alfano wrote: “'Next time, go faster!' Take a chance! And call me.”

The tribunal said the unprofessional message could encourage the public to take risks while driving.

It was also found that he did not provide competent legal services, did not appear at court hearings or speak to his client, and lied to the client.

He was reprimanded and ordered to pay $3,000 in damages.

Francesco Salvatore Bernard Alfano is a colorful character. He has been practicing law for nearly 35 years and operates under the business name We Defend You from an address on North James Street. His motto is: “I defend the accused.” It offers services in Italian and English.

His website says he had a prolific street racing streak as a teenager and spent a lot of time in traffic court as a result. A lawyer there persuaded him to practice law.

Alfano made headlines in Toronto in early 2023 when he controversially offered free legal services to anyone caught shoplifting. He told the media that the post-pandemic economy is forcing people to steal food.

“We're trying to help people who need it most, especially in this day and age,” he told the Law Times.

The Spectator recently reached out to Alfano to ask about his problems with the law society, but did not receive a response.

A date for Alfano's hearing at the Law Society has not yet been set.

The primary purpose of the Law Society of Ontario is to promote public confidence in lawyers and their self-regulatory process, although the society has no say over lawyers who are found to have or have broken the law.

Every year, dozens of lawyers in Ontario are sanctioned by the Law Society tribunal for “embezzlement,” “misappropriation” and “misappropriation” of client funds — terms that suggest theft or fraud — but few are prosecuted. Law enforcement agencies do not automatically report those who have illegally taken customers' money to the police.

The law society declined to say whether it had contacted the police about Falletta.

Nor does it say how it knows the public is following its guidelines for reporting lawyers who break the law to the police.

The Law Society Act says that legal professionals cannot disclose information discovered during an investigation, such as a Law Society investigation into a solicitor accused of embezzlement, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person is at risk of financial harm. .

“One of the primary purposes of a law society, if it exists, is to protect the public interest,” says Trevor Farrow, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School. “Lawyers must have the trust and confidence of the people, not just as a legal profession, but for the concept of law, rule of law and justice in general to function.”

Farrow clarified that he was speaking generally, not about any specific situation.

“The legal profession is self-regulating to serve the public interest,” he says. “This is a fundamental principle of the Law Society Act.”

“For the public to have faith and trust in the regulation of members of the legal community, the public must at least understand how the process works. That doesn't mean the public should have full access to files or full access to all materials, but I think there should be enough transparency for the public to understand what's going on.”

The vast majority of Ontario lawyers are professional and law-abiding, says Farrow.

But when misconduct is suspected, there should be “nothing to hide.”

In difficult times like these, the Law Society of Ontario must demonstrate that “there is a credible process that the public understands and trusts.”

The tribunal says it does not track how often the criminal conduct rule – rule 3.2-7 – is invoked.

A search of audience hearing records found two 2023 lawsuits related to 3.2-7.

In one, a lawyer was accused of illegally transferring trust fund money to someone other than the depositor on multiple occasions.

The attorney was found guilty of misdemeanor charges of using a client trust account for “purposes not related to the provision of legal services,” but not guilty of complicity in illegal activity because the recipient of the money was never found, making it impossible to know. what was the money spent on?

He was suspended for nine months.

In that decision, the tribunal wrote that “there is an urgent need to discourage lawyers and paralegals from using trust accounts for purposes other than providing legal services.”

And in the second case, the lawyer was found guilty of participating in illegal activities. He helped draw up a dying man's will so that his heirs could pass to a lawyer's son. He also took relevant documents from the court building without permission.

The lawyer pleaded guilty to the charges and allowed his license to be suspended instead of being disbarred.

A date for Falletta's disciplinary hearing has not yet been set.