Susan Clairmont is a columnist and investigative reporter with the Hamilton Spectator. Reach her at [email protected].
A lawyer who engaged in a $3.5-million fraud using his trust accounts has admitted his misconduct and been disbarred.
Girolamo (Gerry) Falletta conceded to seven counts of professional misconduct, including one in which he “took actions that he ought to have known would assist or facilitate dishonest, fraudulent, or illegal conduct,” at a Law Society Tribunal hearing on July 24.
Falletta admitted he moved $6.6 million through his trust accounts “with no legal purpose,” according to hearing documents, including an agreed statement of facts and a request to admit. Some, but not all, of those transactions are directly associated with the fraud he has admitted to.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Thus ends a dodgy 12-year career as a personal injury lawyer that involved criminal clients, sketchy associates, a two-year licence suspension and the mysterious firebombing of his legal office — all of which was revealed in an ongoing Hamilton Spectator investigation that began more than two years ago.
The 47-year-old remains connected to fraud investigations being conducted by two police services.
Hamilton Region Hamilton lawyer connected to missing millions is now accused of criminal conduct by law society
Gerry Falletta is also tied to a police investigation into money missing from trust funds
Hamilton Region Hamilton lawyer connected to missing millions is now accused of criminal conduct by law society
Gerry Falletta is also tied to a police investigation into money missing from trust funds
At his tribunal hearing, Falletta confessed to his misconduct, yet refused to reveal where the money went in the scam that funds saw flow out of his secret trust account into the hands of “non-clients,” “fraudsters” and his own pocket, according to the documents.
The Spectator reached out to Falletta and his lawyer, Neil Perrier. Perrier told The Spectator they would not comment.
The documents refer to Falletta as “a dupe” — suggesting he was tricked into the fraud.
“The lawyer denies, with the consent of the law society, any admissions which state or infer that he was a knowing participant in the fraudulent investment scheme carried out by his client(s) and associated parties. The lawyer expressly admits that he was a dupe that was used by a person to perpetuate a fraud.”
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Yet Falletta failed to report any of it to police, refused to co-operate with the law society investigation, never paid back the $1.5 million a court ordered him to return to one of his fraud victims and continues to protect others involved in the scheme.
And he has never apologized.
In fact, at GerryFalletta.com, a website created after he was initially suspended from practicing law, he still bills himself as: “Lawyer — Protecting your rights. Advocating for your justice” — even days after being disbarred.
The site seems to serve no business purpose, but contains photos of Falletta and his two children along with blog postings he has written (some after his licence was revoked) about real estate and personal injury law, as well as exercise and mental health. His bio says: “His clients respected the long-standing relationships he developed with them.”
Falletta was a paralegal before becoming a lawyer. He was called to the bar in 2013 and was a partner with Centennial Law, a firm with a colourful history and a client list that included mobster Angelo Musitano.
Hamilton Region Opinion A slain mobster’s personal records were posted online after a troubled law firm was hacked. What else was compromised?
Angelo Musitano was once a client of Centennial Law Group which was hacked in March.
Hamilton Region Opinion A slain mobster’s personal records were posted online after a troubled law firm was hacked. What else was compromised?
Angelo Musitano was once a client of Centennial Law Group which was hacked in March.
In January 2017, its office was firebombed. A man was convicted of arson, but a motive was never uncovered by police. The Spec discovered the Musitano connection when the firm was hit by a cyberattack and personal documents related to the murdered criminal appeared online.
Falletta was at Centennial (which has since rebranded as Gatestone Law) when he admits that, beginning in March 2022, he took money from “investors” with a promise to keep it in his trust fund for a few weeks then return it with 10 per cent interest, tax free.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Falletta told the investors — none of whom were legal clients — stories about the money being used as collateral for other investors and business owners. In reality, Falletta deposited the money in a secret trust account separate from the one he had for Centennial Law. Then he immediately took the money out of the trust account and gave it to his alleged fraud partners — Mohammad Ehtesham (Amir) Huq and Antonio DiProspero — or put it in his own bank accounts, he admitted in the law society documents.
Opinion He invested $1.5 million in a trust account. The money’s gone and two Hamilton lawyers are banned from practising law
Susan Clairmont investigates a trust account investment scheme involving Hamilton lawyers and
Three investors, identified by their initials in the documents, reported him to the law society, which governs the province’s lawyers and paralegals.
They include:
X.H.
Between March 11 and 15, 2022, Falletta withdrew $943,612 from his trust account held on behalf of X.H. for the benefit of another “client.” Falletta kept at least $2,700 for his own use, he admits.
X.H. “placed a high-interest private mortgage on her personal residence” to get the money for Falletta. “As a result of (Falletta’s) refusal to return X.H.’s (money), she was unable to make payments against the mortgage loan taken out against her personal residence,” the documents say. “X.H. was eventually locked out of her personal residence due to the nonpayment of the mortgage loan.”
X.H. was sued by the private mortgagee and had to pay $130,000 to regain her home.
There are emails from Falletta to DiProspero about X.H., but Falletta refused to provide law society investigators with bank records to show where the remainder of her money went.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW A.G.
Between April 7 and May 7, 2022, Falletta withdrew from his trust account $1,046,849 held on behalf of A.G. for the benefit of another “client,” Falletta admits.
A.G. placed a mortgage on her private property in the amount of $1,150,000 to “invest” with Falletta.
As soon as Falletta deposited A.G.’s money into his secret trust account, he moved $2,500 into his own bank accounts.
There are emails between Falletta and DiProspero about the money, but the lawyer failed to provide banking records to law society investigators showing where the money went.
A.E.
Between June 11 and Dec. 16, 2022, Falletta withdrew from his trust account $1.5 million held on behalf of A.E. for the benefit of another person.
The Spectator previously reported that A.E. is Arthur Ellis, a wealthy St. Catharines developer. In interviews with the paper, he explained in detail how his quick and easy investment with Falletta went terribly wrong, costing him money he had promised to a women’s shelter for renovations.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Ellis was introduced to Falletta through his divorce lawyer, Robert Otto.
Little did Ellis know that Otto’s law licence was suspended at the time because he had misappropriated money from his own clients through his trust fund. (Falletta did know this and, in January 2023, Otto was disbarred.) Nor did Ellis know the same man Otto had funnelled money to — Huq — was allegedly being paid off by Falletta.
Emails from Falletta to shell companies associated with DiProspero and Huq show they were to receive payments from the Ellis deal, according to the tribunal documents.
After the 21-day deal expired and Ellis didn’t get his money back, Falletta admitted to him he had lost the money. He said he had been scammed.
He offered to take out a second mortgage on his personal home in Ancaster to repay Ellis’s missing money. The lawyer even showed him paperwork for it. Later the law society would learn he’d forged the names of two other Hamilton lawyers and a private lender who were shocked to learn about the documents. Falletta never actually took out the second mortgage and he never reported the scam to police.
So Ellis went to Hamilton police himself. They wouldn’t take the case.
The day after The Spectator published its first story on Falletta, Hamilton police told Ellis they were beginning an investigation.
Tribunal documents refer to the Hamilton police investigation as ongoing.
In response to a query from The Spectator about the investigation, the Hamilton detective in charge of the case said: “To preserve the integrity of investigations, the Hamilton police financial crimes unit will not comment about investigations within the unit until it is appropriate and will not interfere with the work of investigators.”
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The Spectator’s reporting also led Toronto police to issue an arrest warrant for Huq, who they believe is living in Bangladesh. Toronto police told The Spectator they are still investigating.
Ellis filed a civil suit against Falletta — which he won. Despite a court order to pay Ellis $1.5 million plus $10,000 in costs, Falletta has never paid a penny.
Falletta refused to provide law society investigators with bank records of where Ellis’s money actually went.
On Dec. 5, 2022, the tribunal suspended Falletta’s licence. (The Hamilton paralegal Falletta hired to represent him in the suspension matter, Frank Alfano, has now also been suspended following accusations that include: “ghosting” clients; promising judges and lawyers he would do work he never did; lying to clients about their cases; and misappropriating client money and articling under false pretences by saying he had a certificate of qualification to act as a lawyer when he did not.)
Moments after the tribunal permanently revoked Falletta’s licence and ordered him to immediately pay $26,587 in costs to the law society, Ellis spoke to The Spectator.
“This is a slap on the wrist,” he said.
Ellis is disappointed Hamilton police haven’t done more. “I had one call from police,” he said, “then I never heard from them again.”
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Falletta admitted in the tribunal documents to not co-operating with the law society investigations by failing to provide information, books and records related to his legal services and bank accounts. He also agreed he failed to maintain proper books and records.
In documents filed to the hearing, the law society highlighted other specific concerns with Falletta’s records, particularly those related to Brian Fraser and Zane Watson, who Falletta claimed were clients.
Falletta agreed he accepted deposits of funds from Fraser and Watson into his trust account “to shield them from law enforcement.”
Falletta conducted 19 financial transactions for Fraser during a four-month period in 2022, moving money in and out of his trust account, even though Fraser was not his client.
Watson was also not a client, yet Falletta admitted he “accepted funds into trust, from an unknown source, for Watson’s benefit.”
There were 24 transactions, and Falletta “disbursed funds from trust to cover personal expenses for Watson,” including to pay private school fees for Watson’s children.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
He also admitted to allowing Watson to deposit his own funds directly into Falletta’s account, according to tribunal documents.
Watson is a professional bodybuilder from Hamilton.
In November 2021, he was arrested by the OPP in a provincewide drug bust called Project Gainsborough.
The 16-month investigation culminated with 200 officers executing raids across southern Ontario and seizing $32 million of illegal cannabis products.
Watson was charged with committing an offence for a criminal organization, possession and distribution of cannabis and unauthorized possession of a weapon.
The charges were stayed on Nov. 21, 2023.
It is unclear what Falletta will do now. The law society says being disbarred also prevents him from acting as a paralegal.
ONTARIO NOW NEWSLETTER Get our free new weekly newsletter
Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request.
There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.
Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Yes, I’d also like to receive customized content suggestions and promotional messages from thespec.com.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
ONTARIO NOW NEWSLETTER You’re signed up! You’ll start getting Ontario Now in your inbox soon.
Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
