A gunman who allegedly killed two people in a Toronto office building earlier this week blamed them for “losing our life’s savings,” his spouse says.
Arash Missaghi and Samira Yousefi were shot dead on Monday in an office building off Mallard Road in North York, near Don Mills and York Mills roads.
The shooter, a 46-year-old man, also died at the scene, Toronto police said.
Officials have not released his identity, but his wife — Alisa Pogorelovsky — said her husband, Alan Katz, “could not handle losing our life’s savings” in an alleged mortgage fraud Missaghi and Yousefi were being accused of.
“The events that gave rise to the litigation that we are involved in with Missaghi and Yousefi have devastated and now destroyed our family. Alan could not handle losing our life’s savings and that is what lead to this tragic event,” Pogorelovsky said in a statement to Global News.
“He wrote a note before he died that I found today which explains what he was thinking and why he acted as he did. I hope that someday my family will be able to recover.”
‘Stop these criminals from destroying people’s lifes’
That note, which Pogorelovsky shared, said Katz’s death was “in the hands of” Missaghi and Yousefi, as well as two other individuals.
“Stop these criminals from destroying people’s lifes,” the note read.
On Monday, gunshots rang out at the office building around 3:30 p.m., police said.
Speaking at the scene, Det.-Sgt. Al Bartlett said that the shooting took place in a business and that the altercation that led up to it was “in relation” to the business.
Missaghi and Yousefi were named in a lawsuit filed this year by Pogorelovsky, who accused the duo of being involved in a “syndicated mortgage fraud” that saw her lose $1.28 million, court filings show.
“An aggressive mortgage broker encouraged the plaintiff’s principal to free up capital in the family home to invest in private mortgages with other participants to earn high interest,” court records read.
“Once the plaintiff invested the funds, the returns on investments would be paid for long enough to allow the recipients to move the money around and out of reach.”
In March 2018, Missaghi, who has faced a lengthy history of lawsuits, was charged by Toronto police in March 2018 in an alleged mortgage fraud investigation dubbed “Project Bridle Path” involving high-end real-estate around Toronto.
Police alleged he was involved in a series of fraudulent transactions that netted around $17 million in a scheme that dated back to before 2013. Global News has followed up with the courts regarding the outcome of the case.
Pogorelovsky’s lawsuit alleges the family lost their home as a result of the investments.
The police investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.
More to come
More on Crime
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.