December 06-2013
. . . Toronto lawyer
An Iranian-Canadian lawyer is suspected of fleeing Canada and heading back to Iran with more than $3 million that he was believed to be handling for an Arab-Canadian client.
Hassan Abuzour, 57, originally from Gaza says he is virtually penniless now and went to court Friday—for the sixth time in seven months —seeking to salvage whatever he can.
His wife, Samira, 55, is in the hospital for the third time since the couple found out last month what they had been fearing for months — that the Toronto lawyer they had hired, Javad Heydary, appears to have walked off with trust money owed to the couple from a business deal.
. . . from Gaza
“I want to sleep, but I cannot. We need my wife to sleep,” Abuzour said in broken English. “I’m not sure if I will ever get the money. I didn’t think if the money is in the bank, I could lose it.”
Last year, lawyer Heydary drew international attention when he launched a lawsuit on behalf of investors in the Trump International Hotel & Tower.
No one is certain if the charismatic Heydary, 49, the founder of Heydary Hamilton and four other Toronto law firms, is in Iran. According to one source, Heydary’s wife—still thought to be in Canada—last month told his law partners he was dead.
The Law Society of Upper Canada is now in control of Heydary Hamilton, as well as Heydary Elliott, Heydary Green, Heydary Hayes and Heydary Samuel. The Toronto Star said most of the focus is on Heydary Hamilton because its trust fund is the only of the five firm’s trust accounts that was solely controlled by Heydary himself.
Almost $163,000 was cleared out of the trust fund in just one day, November 15. That was the court-imposed deadline for Heydary Hamilton, to hand over Abuzour’s money.
That night Heydary left Canada, telling colleagues he had to tend to a sick relative in Iran. He hasn’t been heard from since.
The Law Society of Upper Canada alleges that just $319,067.82 or less than 10 percent of Abuzour’s $3.6 million is left in the Heydary Hamilton trust fund and that Heydary himself is being investigated for “misappropriation, mishandling trust funds, and failing to comply with a court order.”
In the wake of the resignations of lawyers from the firms—and concerns among staff that Heydary “would be a very strong and disruptive presence in the office” if he returned—the Law Society took over as trustee of the businesses last week.
Ray Thapar, the lawyer Abuzour has hired to save his family from financial ruin, told The Star, “This is the worst I’ve ever seen.”
Abuzour was an entrepreneur before coming to Canada from Gaza.
When he decided to dissolve a printing business partnership last year, he needed a lawyer to handle the paperwork. Heydary ended up completing the deal for $200,000, says Abuzour. Abuzour was supposed to receive $5.1 million share in installments, most of which were to be channeled through a trust fund, between last January and April.
But after months, and more than 11 encounters with Hey-dary—who threw up a host of objections to handing over the money, including demanding sureties from Abuzour’s former business partner on money the bank had already cleared—Abuzour contacted Thapar for help.
After numerous hearings, and what Thapar feared was just stalling from Heydary Hamilton, a judge on November 14 gave the law firm until 5 p.m. the next day to hand over the funds.
That next night, the affidavit alleges, Heydary flew to Dubai on his way to Tehran.
Heydary had graduated from law school in Ontario and practiced law for 12 years. His website tells a rags-to-riches story of a life that started by selling candy on Tehran’s streets at the age of 7.
