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In the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Arash Missaghi, a Toronto man labeled a ‘predatory fraudster’ by a judge, another victim has come forward.
Iranian Canadian artist Alijan Alijanpour, 68, alleges he lost his life’s work, paintings worth over a million dollars, and was saddled with a forged $1.2 million mortgage due to Missaghi’s schemes.
Missaghi and a business partner were killed by Alan Kats, 46, last week.
Kats claimed Missaghi ruined his family financially before he ended his own life.
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Alijanpour, whose work has been exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts and the National Art Museum of China, told CBC that Missaghi earned his trust after he commissioned several paintings from him about a decade ago.
When it came time to move his paintings to a new gallery, 38 pieces total, Alijanpour accepted Missaghi’s offer to help. After that, he claims he never saw his paintings again.
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Per CBC, Alijanpour reported the theft to Toronto police in 2019 and a lawsuit surrounding the alleged theft is still before the courts.
The 38 paintings took more than 20 years to complete and were reportedly worth $1.2 million dollars. Additionally, Alijanpour said Missaghi fraudulently orchestrated a $1.2 million mortgage in his name.
Despite multiple decades of alleged crimes, Smiley told National Post earlier this week that Missaghi was able to avoid a civil finding of fraud by “consistently failing to obey court orders” and by knowing how “to create procedural delays and avoid trials where evidence can be called before a judge who can make findings of fact.”
Smiley also said that the assertion of “lawyer-client privilege over key documents” played a key role in evading a civil judgment.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have the civil justice system that we do. Our court system and our judges are unfailingly careful. They are precise. They are ethical and they are fair. They just want to do justice. Unfortunately, they are working within a system which is severely underfunded, suffering from a massive shortage of judges. And experiencing considerable procedural delays,” Smiley said.
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“Mr. Missaghi knew all that and he knew how to exploit it.”
Like Alijanpour, Kats and his wife Alisa Pogorelovsky, alleged they were defrauded by more than a million dollars, losing $1.3 million in an elaborate scheme that led to a lawsuit and a judge referring to Missaghi as a “predatory fraudster.”
Kats and Pogorelovsky later learned they were far from the only victims of Missaghi’s alleged frauds over the past 20 years, and were worried the crimes would continue unabated. Their money, meanwhile, has not been recovered.
Missaghi declared bankruptcy in 2000, but Smiley told CBC that Missaghi concealed his assets using shell companies and straw purchases, which is when someone buys something on behalf of another person who cannot make the purchase themselves.
In Pogorelovsky’s civil case against Missaghi, Ontario Superior Court Justice Lee Akazaki wrote that Missaghi and his wife “control or have controlled upwards of $50 million in North American assets.”
Before heading to the North York office where Kats ultimately shot and killed Missaghi and his business partner and mortgage agent Samira Yousefi, he left his wife a note.
“My death is on the hands of Arash Missaghi (and) Samira Yousefi,” it read. ““Stop these criminals from destroying peoples lifes (sic).
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