Oshawa lawyer suspended for ‘misappropriating trust funds’ of $1 million

An Oshawa lawyer has been suspended from the bar after he misappropriated nearly $1 million from multiple trust funds.

Peter Boychyn, 44, operates the Boychyn and Boychyn Law Office at 57 Simcoe Street South. In March 2023, he was charged with involvement in a fraud scheme in which he led people to invest in a company that would sell tickets to people that would allow them to dump excavated dirt on a private lot in Orono. However, no arrangement was made with the site to accept the drop-offs.

He was also allegedly involved in another scam in which investors would put money into a paving company, Boychyn Excavating Ltd, with contracts for two large automobile businesses in Durham Region. However, these contracts did not exist either.

Peter Boychyn was ultimately charged with four counts of fraud over $5,000. According to Joseph Martinez, an alleged victim of these scams, Boychyn has been named in more than 30 lawsuits across Ontario.

Later, the Boychyn’s father and partner Donald Boychyn was accused of aiding his son’s alleged schemes. As a result, “the Law Society brought a motion for an interlocutory suspension because its investigation provided evidence that the Lawyer had misappropriated significant funds from client trust accounts,” reads a CanLii decision.

Donald Boychyn did not dispute the allegations during the hearing. “The panel found that the test for an interlocutory suspension was met, as there were reasonable grounds for believing that there is a significant risk of harm to members of the public,” the decision reads, “Further, it found that misappropriating trust funds is an allegation that bears directly on the lawyer’s integrity and trustworthiness.”

The hearing found Boychyn “made four payments from his mixed trust account totalling $317,050 for the benefit of his son Peter.” They continued, “The monies from his trust account were held for other clients. Mr. Boychyn says that he expected that [Peter] would reimburse him for these payments, but this did not happen.”

A few days later he “deposited a bank draft in the amount of $720,000 into his mixed trust account.” Then “He received the bank draft from [Peter]. He then paid out over $500,000 from his mixed trust account.”

“He paid $23,274.17 to himself and the balance to two corporations and two individuals,” The tribunal found “Mr. Boychyn says that the $720,000 draft came from [Peter] and that the payments were to pay for purchases made by [Peter].”

By October that year, “the client trust ledger for [Peter] showed a negative balance of $979,821.” The tribunal “received complaints from clients of Mr. Boychyn saying that trust funds being held for them by Mr. Boychyn are missing. This is not surprising as the monies paid out of trust by Mr. Boychyn for the benefit of [Peter] were monies held in trust for his other clients.”

Boychyn admitted to having “seriously misconducted himself” and noted he was “disgusted” by his actions. As a result, the Law Society suspended Boychyn’s law licence.

“Boychyn acknowledges paying out nearly $1,000,000 for the benefit of his son and his own benefit. This money came from monies held by Mr. Boychyn for other clients,” the decision reads, “Mr. Boychyn’s conduct shows a fundamental lack of integrity. He cannot be trusted to serve clients or to undertake the other duties of a lawyer. Public confidence in the administration of justice would be shaken if he were allowed to continue to practise.”