$200K lost in Havana Group fraud
Judge says victim was ‘neither sophisticated nor experienced in business matters’
The former head of the Havana Group who convinced an investor he could help secure lucrative contracts with companies such as Niagara Casinos and Fort Erie Race Track has been found guilty of fraud.
In his judgment delivered Thursday in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Judge Andrew Brown said Steven Sardinha, 50, took advantage of a “gullible” investor and, with another man who was later murdered, swindled him out of more than $200,000.
The judge said the victim, a Hamilton steelworker for more than 40 years, was “neither sophisticated nor experienced in business matters” and took Sardinha at his word and invested in the company with the promise of multimillion-dollar contracts.
“He was an overwhelmingly trusting individual,” the judge said. “He asked few questions, and accepted as true what he was told.”
Court was told the victim, now 65, met the defendant in the fall of 2017 following a chance meeting.
Sardinha offered him an opportunity to become a shareholder in a soil-removal company called Forever Top Soil.
The victim invested $30,000 for a 30 per cent stake in the company and was later introduced to Grant Norton.
Sardinha said Norton was an old friend and a consultant for Metrolinx who had the authority to award a $1.2-million excavation and maintenance contract involving transit stations across southern Ontario.
The victim met with Norton in February 2018 and was told of the Metrolinx contract as well as other potential lucrative contracts with Niagara Casinos, Fort Erie Race Track and CN Rail.
The following month, a new company — Havana Group Supplies Inc. — was created with the victim listed as president.
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