A group of 14 Montreal investors is headed to court, this time in hopes of recouping a total $4 million they say they lost from Leon Kordzian in a real-estate scheme.
Kordizian, 65, is alleged to have targeted people in Laval and Cartierville in the Italian, Greek, Lebanese, Syrian and Iranian communities, supposedly preying on immigrants who could not speak English or French.
Kordzian's long-time acquaintance Ali Reza Pedram said the real-estate agent promised him a 24 percent return if he would invest money into a plan to build homes for newlyweds. His friends discouraged him from the idea, but Pedram felt he trust Kordzian.
"I said to them that I invest $10,000 with Leon and everybody said to me say 'Bye-bye to your money.' I said, 'No, come on, not Leon," said Pedram. When he asked for the money back, Pedram said Kordzian gave him a series of excuses.
"(He said) 'You can't get anything. Don't bother me. Whenever I have money, I'll let you know.' He hung up the phone on me," said Pedram.
Pedram and the other investors will take part in a class-action lawsuit, the second involving Kordzian for lawyer Katheryne Desfosses. Desfosses successfully sued the real-estate agent earlier this year for another client who had lost money in mortgages thanks to Kordzian. It was a hollow victory, however, because Kordzian had no assets to seize.
Desfosses this time is suing notaries Sigouin, Corbin and Truchon, whose names appear on Kordzian's alleged guarantees. They would not agree to speak with CTV, but said in a statement that they never acted on Kordzian's behalf.
"There's a duty to verify information and to advise clients and both parties and we allege that they failed to fulfill their obligations," said Desfosses.
Kordzian's real-estate licence was suspended in November 2008.
