Sometime in late May, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) discovered that Mississauga-based real estate brokerage iPro Realty was missing $10.5 million in consumer deposits and agent commissions. Despite the discovery, RECO chose not to alert either the public or law enforcement for roughly three months. RECO's Registrar, Joseph Richer, then decided not to charge iPro's co-owners for the violation.

The scandal has led to Richer being removed from his position amid mounting public outrage towards both him and RECO for their lack of oversight and failure to protect consumers and agents — the Council's singular mandate. RECO and Richer's handling of the situation is an approach that some industry leaders say put buyers and agents at risk, while letting the leaders of a company suspected in the misappropriation of $10.5 million in trust funds largely off the hook.

"Agents are furious out there, and companies like us that have been working hard for 45 years, ethically, professionally, [...] now we are questioning, 'Okay, anybody can come into this game and take advantage of the system and not be punished?" Steve Tabrizi, COO and Broker/Owner at RE/MAX Hallmark, tells STOREYS.

"Historically, my understanding is that cases involving theft over $5,000 are usually reported to local authorities," Tabrizi says. "In this situation, it appears that did not happen — which, given the size of the reported shortfall, is surprising. In my 28 years in the industry, I have rarely seen numbers of this scale."

It remains unclear exactly why RECO chose to put consumers and agents at risk for three months or why Richer agreed not to charge iPro's owners, as well as whether or not RECO supported Richer's actions through those months, but Tabrizi says that either way, the handling of the situation has raised concerns across the industry.

"The bigger question is how we ensure that the system can’t be taken advantage of in a way that undermines trust and accountability," he says. "In order to avoid more brokerages abusing public funds, more oversight is needed, including having more frequent audits."

Going further, Tabrizi says that regardless of what the former Registrar may have agreed upon with the principal owners of iPro Realty, that agreement must be reversed and the principals must be held accountable through proper charges in order to restore faith in the due process.

Key Facts

  • iPro Realty employed around 2,400 agents and spanned 17 branch locations in Mississauga (2 locations), Toronto (3 locations), Orangeville, Georgetown, Milton, North York, Bradford, Baysville, Burlington, Woodbridge, Scarborough, Brampton, Brantford, and Pickering. Its co-founders and the subjects of this scandal are Rui J Alves and Fedele Colucci. Alves served on RECO's board of directors for a number of years until May 2023.
  • According to their website, "RECO is the provincial regulator that regulates real estate agents and brokerages in Ontario. Our goal is to protect consumers by ensuring that real estate agents and brokerages in Ontario understand and follow the law."
  • Joseph Richer was RECO's Registrar from September 2012 until departing from the regulatory authority last week in the wake of this scandal.
  • The iPro Realty scandal comes after a 2022 Auditor General’s report found that RECO was not fully effective in protecting consumers in real estate transactions. (It is worth noting that Rui Alves was on RECO's Board of Directors at that time.)

Timeline Of Events

  • Unknown date in 2021
    • RECO performs its first inspection of iPro Realty. Roughly four years will pass before iPro is inspected by RECO for a second time.
  • Unknown date in late May, 2025
    • RECO is about to perform iPro's second investigation when, "immediately prior to the investigation," iPro informs RECO about the $10.5 million shortfall in its accounts. Peel Regional Police has not been notified at this point.
  • August 14
    • RECO shares a news release informing the public that it has completed an agreement with iPro to shut down all 17 of its brokerage locations by August 19, 2025, after a scheduled inspection revealed a "significant shortfall" in their accounts. "This is a serious breach of iPro’s responsibilities under the law and to its consumers and agents," says RECO in the release. At this point, RECO also shares that pending transactions will continue to close as usual, and that agents and their clients will be able to transfer to iCloud Realty and remain at their branch location, or transfer to a brand new brokerage.
    • All that is shared about iCloud in RECO's release is that they are a brokerage that has assumed all of iPro's brokerage locations. When STOREYS reaches out to RECO for clarification, Richer says that "iCloud is registered as a brokerage with RECO, with different owners from iPro, and has purchased some of iPro’s assets and assumed some of its leases. There has been no transfer of ownership from iPro to iCloud."
  • August 15
    • RECO notifies the Peel Regional Police's Fraud Bureau of its ongoing investigation into potential improprieties within iPro Realty, as confirmed by Constable Sarah Patton in an email to STOREYS.
  • August 19
    • RECO posts a second release to its website highlighting that:
      • iPro's shortfall was originally $10.5 million, but has since been reduced to less than $8 million;
      • RECO has notified Peel Regional Police and says it will cooperate with any investigation;
      • RECO knew about the shortfall in late May;
      • iCloud Realty was registered in early August and has purchased certain iPro assets, in addition to assuming the leases.
      • In the release, RECO also states that, since finding out about the shortfall its "approach has been to both monitor iPro’s trust accounts and to recover the greatest amount of trust money possible for consumers and agents."
      • According to RECO's profile database, iPro co-founders Alves and Colucci both lost their broker registrations on this date. In their discipline histories, it is stated that both individuals have agreed to never reapply for registration. The histories include that Colucci "illegally disbursed funds from the brokerage’s consumer deposit and commission trust accounts" and that Alves "failed to ensure that the brokerage managed trust funds in compliance with the law."
  • August 21
    • The Toronto Star breaks the news that RECO Registrar Joseph Richer agreed not to charge or fine iPro Realty’s co-founders. “As part of its undertaking for the closure of iPro and the termination of Colucci and Alves registrations, RECO’s Registrar agreed to not seek charges under his authority under the Provincial Offences Act, and to not take any further administrative action under the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002," read the statement from a RECO spokesperson.
    • During this week, RECO also tells the Star it waited three months to alert consumers about the shortfall and illegal activity "in order to give the brokerage’s co-founders time to return the money."
  • August 22
    • CEO of RECO, Brenda Buchanan releases a statement that, with the support of RECO's Board of Directors, she has "acted" and Richer has left RECO. "I have undertaken to review this matter and I am committed to working closely with RECO’s board to provide transparency, oversight and accountability on this matter. This is my top priority," Buchanan adds.
    • Also on this date, STOREYS asks RECO why Peel Regional Police wasn't immediately notified about the $10.5 million shortfall, what would qualify the police to become involved, and if RECO has plans to increase oversight and improve audits. RECO responds with the news release published that day announcing Richer's departure.
  • August 25
    • RECO releases a fourth press release sharing that it is freezing iPro's accounts, launching an "immediate independent and comprehensive audit" on the iPro matter, reviewing RECO's ongoing compliance files, and conducting a "thorough organizational review to ensure that RECO is equipped to meet its consumer protection mandate, to assess and improve the regulatory function, and to strengthen oversight and accountability within the organization."

The independent audit will be performed by Dentons Canada LLP and will look into Richer's agreement with iPro. Dentons will also assemble a report providing recommendations for how RECO can ensure "greater oversight and governance going forward," with a final report to be delivered and made public by October 30, 2025.

At the time of publication, Peel Regional Police's Fraud Bureau has not opened a criminal investigation into the matter. "A referral from RECO to the police may occur in the future subject to the Fraud Bureau’s receipt of a full briefing with respect to RECO’s findings & available evidence to date," says Constable Patton in a statement to STOREYS on August 25. "An assessment of the information for criminal process suitability will then take place in line with the Fraud Bureau’s intake procedure."

STOREYS is awaiting a response to questions posed to RECO on August 25 as to why Alves and Colucci weren't charged, and whether or not Richer acted alone in his decision not to charge them.

This story is ongoing and STOREYS will update this article as new developments arise.

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