EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
Two former Ford government staffers — including a central figure in the Greenbelt scandal — are being accused of fraud in a lawsuit that alleges they were paid to use “their backchannel contacts and political connections” to get land rezoned for development, but did not follow through on the deal.
The lawsuit, made publicly known here for the first time, alleges they participated in an “orchestrated conspiracy to defraud” the landowners.
One of the former staffers is Ryan Amato, the former chief of staff to the minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, who was described by the province’s integrity commissioner as the ”driving force” behind the Ford government’s short-lived removal of land from Greenbelt.
The other is Shiv Raj, a former longtime premier’s office staffer who is currently working on Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford’s re-election tour.
Both denied the accusations via their legal counsel, who issued statements saying the lawsuit’s statement of claim “contains false and baseless accusations” and that both former staffers “acted in full compliance with the law and will defend any claims to the contrary in court if called upon to do so.”
The allegations have not been proven in court. All defendants have notified the court of their intent to defend the claim.
The lawsuit was filed by Brampton resident Amanpreet Jakhar and two numbered companies. The plaintiffs bought land in Oakville, London and Grimsby between 2019 and 2022 for more than $7.5 million so they could rezone the properties to allow development, according to their statement of claim, which The Trillium found in the province's court records system.
They’re seeking $2 million “for negligence, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, conspiracy” and related causes of action, plus punitive damages.
Amato and Raj are named as defendants alongside the Frontier Group of Companies, including David Lisi, one of its founders, and Anthony Pollo, who was a vice president of the group. According to its website, the company offers construction management and general contracting services.
Jakhar and the other landowners say they approached “their acquaintance” Raj in mid-2023 for help with rezoning the properties “given his extensive business network and role as executive director of operations for the office of (the) premier.”
The plaintiffs say Raj introduced them to the Frontier Group and Amato in the summer of 2023, before they came to their agreements that August.
In a meeting at Frontier Group’s office, Amato and Raj “falsely represented … that they had the experience and expertise to assist in obtaining a rezoning of the properties and they would work with Frontier Group, using their backchannel contacts and political connections to facilitate and secure rezoning approvals for the properties,” the lawsuit alleges.
According to the plaintiffs, Amato and Raj said they could get the properties rezoned within five to eight months, and the Frontier Group said rezoning the land was a “routine task.”
However, the landowners allege this was a “malicious, high-handed and dishonest” conspiracy. They allege the group secretly agreed to get the landowners to sign a contract “on the false pretence of obtaining rezoning approvals of the properties in order to enrich themselves at the plaintiffs' expense.”
The plaintiffs say they had written agreements with Frontier Group but an oral one with Amato and Raj, who “would be paid by Frontier Group for these services out of the monthly fee under the agreement in order to conceal their involvement to the outside world.”
“Shiv and Ryan indicated that due to their ‘sensitive’ connection to government, their fees would flow to Frontier Group through each agreement, and in turn from Frontier Group to them, to make their involvement less transparent,” the lawsuit reads.
It adds that “none of the defendants are or were registered with the provincial lobbyist registry,” even though the agreements with Frontier Group stated that the company would register on behalf of the plaintiffs.
They go on to allege that the defendants did little work to get the properties rezoned.
Amato, Raj and Frontier Group, through their agreement with Jakhar and the two companies, “strung the Plaintiffs along with inaccurate, untrue and misleading status updates and false representations” while charging “grossly inflated” monthly fees of almost $190,000, the lawsuit against them says.
“Apart from some soil testing, rudimentary information requests from the defendants, and the odd update referencing a conversation with a councillor or an upcoming meeting with municipal staff, the defendants did not appear to be taking any steps to seek and obtain rezoning approvals for the properties,” the lawsuit reads.
“Months passed, no progress was made, and the defendants began responding to the plaintiffs' inquiries in a less timely manner,” the statement of claim alleges.
In total, the plaintiffs say they paid Frontier Group about $1.5 million, and the properties were not rezoned.
“Each of Shiv, Ryan, David and Anthony have been unjustly enriched, as set out above and each knowingly received directly, or indirectly through Frontier Group or each other, the plaintiff funds which were procured by fraud,” the statement of claim alleges.
August 2023, when the plaintiffs allege their agreements with the defendants began, was a turbulent time for the Ford government.
Ontario’s auditor general released her damning Greenbelt report on Aug. 9. Amato resigned as chief of staff to then-housing minister Steve Clark less than two weeks later, on Aug. 22. The next day, the Ontario Provincial Police announced it had referred the consideration of a potential police investigation into the Greenbelt changes to the RCMP. Clark resigned about two weeks later, days after the integrity commissioner released his report on Clark.
Ford apologized for and vowed to reverse the land removals on Sept. 21, 2023. The RCMP’s criminal investigation is still ongoing.
Raj left his job in the premier’s office in early 2024, according to information from multiple government sources, records, and spending information.
The statement of claim does not include the date in August 2023 that the agreements were alleged to have begun.
Shortly after Clark resigned, Paul Calandra took over as municipal affairs and housing minister and, according to several sources who previously spoke to The Trillium, quickly limited access to developers and lobbyists.
The Trillium sent detailed questions to Amato and Raj through their counsel, Joshua Henderson of Groia & Company, concerning the allegations laid out in the statement of claim. The lawyer responded with statements on behalf of each client that were identical except for the clients’ names.
“The Statement of Claim contains false and baseless accusations which do not reflect the high level of integrity and professionalism that Mr. Amato holds himself to. Mr. Amato has acted in full compliance with the law and will defend any claims to the contrary in court if called upon to do so,” the first said.
The same statement followed, with Raj's name in place of Amato's.
A spokesperson for Ford declined to answer questions about Raj’s status with the PC re-election campaign.
“The premier is unaware of this lawsuit, and the province has no involvement in it nor has it ever considered any changes to these properties,” said Grace Lee.
Counsel for the Frontier Group declined to comment except to say that the allegations in the statement of claim are “simply that" and his clients "intend to vigorously defend the claim."
The plaintiffs' legal counsel did not respond to a request for comment.
