‘Our focus is on supporting his family …’
‘Smart and talented’ victim subject of grievances in and outside of court
Riaz Mamdani and his wife, Zainool, bought a sprawling mansion in the affluent neighbourhood of Mount Royal for $2.2 million in 2000, boasting at the auction they didn’t need financing for the massive purchase.
The home, which remains among the most lavish in Calgary with an assessed value of $7.9 million, was built by Albert Adrian Dick in 1912, a few months after he and his wife survived the sinking of the Titanic while on their honeymoon.
“We think we got a bargain,” Riaz Mamdani, then known as cofounder of the software firm Jawz Inc., told a reporter at the time.
Mamdani was in the driver’s seat of a Rolls-Royce Phantom outside his stately home Monday morning when he was shot in what police called a targeted attack. A spokeswoman for the Calgary real estate firm he helms, the Strategic Group, said he’s in hospital in stable condition.
Mamdani is the subject of a long list of grievances, both in and outside of court, and has attracted vitriol in online message boards, largely due to his connection with a class-action lawsuit.
About 2,200 investors claim they lost $200 million buying trust or limited partnership units in real estate entities between 2002-12.
According to court documents, which name Mamdani and a long list of other defendants, he was heavily involved in various transactions and allegedly manipulated investments, forcing buildings into foreclosure.
The lawsuit also claims Mamdani and his business partner Shariff Chandran placed mortgages on properties without disclosing them to investors and took some or all of the proceeds for their own benefit.
None of the allegations have been proven.
A Calgary man who has had extensive business dealings with Mamdani dating back to the late 1990s said the real estate investor “can be opportunistic, but he’s a gentleman” who has “conducted himself with honour.”
“It’s easy to get mad when you’re trying to do business dealings with a guy who is so much smarter and faster,” said the man, who declined to be named out of respect for the family while Mamdani is in hospital.
“Riaz is just exceptionally smart and talented, but I never saw it used with malice.”
In the 1990s, Mamdani worked at a pharmacy while he earned a law degree at the University of Calgary before practising corporate and securities law in the city.
He ran into trouble with Revenue Canada early in his career when he was found guilty of failing to pay personal income taxes from 199497.
He was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine.
He co-founded the technology company Jawz, valued at $80 million in late 2000, specializing in secure software and remote data storage services. While at the firm, he and other investors got noticed for aggressively buying older Calgary buildings they planned to convert into technology centres.
Jawz folded in 2001 amid the Internet bubble collapse. The company blamed economic conditions and unresolved litigation in California when it failed to secure liability insurance, which led to all board members and officers resigning en masse.
Mamdani formed the Strategic Group the same year to pursue his interest in real estate. The company’s website says it’s one of Western Canada’s largest privately held property owners.
During his time at the firm, Mamdani attracted considerable praise for his philanthropic efforts, from collecting warm clothing for Calgarians in need to starting a citywide food drive. As a result of his financial support for Calgary Opera, the group’s downtown location was named the Mamdani Opera Centre.
He also invested in startups, including RepeatSeat, which produced online ticketing for the theatre company Cineplex Inc. before it folded in 2009.
Mamdani, then a minority shareholder, “was just like everybody else that lost their money,” said Bob Christianson, who had co-founded the company, calling Mamdani “very supportive” of the startup.
Still, court documents accuse Mamdani of questionable behaviour.
A lawsuit filed in June 2014 claims Mamdani and Chandran conspired to collect money from investors who were buying land and use it for their own benefit. The allegations haven’t been proven.
Mamdani is also named in more than three dozen lawsuits dating back to 1993, including one in which he is suing Chandran.
In a statement, Strategic Group said it was “completely shocked” by the shooting outside the CEO’s Mount Royal home.
“Our focus is on supporting his family, and we look forward to his speedy recovery,” the company said.