John Aquino, left, and Vas Georgiou at the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Toronto on Oct. 7, 2025.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
An Ontario court judge has sentenced the two men found guilty of fraud in the multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital to years in prison after concluding that they harmed multiple victims, undermined public trust in major infrastructure projects and showed no remorse.
Vas Georgiou, 61, a former chief administrative officer at St. Michael’s, was sentenced to five years in prison. John Aquino, the 53-year-old former president of Bondfield Construction Company Ltd., received a sentence of seven years.
Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino were convicted in October over allegations that the bidding process for the hospital project was tainted by favouritism and undisclosed conflicts of interest.
In handing down the sentence on Wednesday, Justice Peter Bawden said it is not possible to assign a dollar value to the public’s loss of trust in the integrity of Ontario’s public-sector infrastructure projects.
“The actions of the accused at least jeopardized, and quite possibly diminished, that trust,” Justice Bawden said in his written decision. “While the loss cannot be measured in dollars, it is profound.”
The judge cited five aggravating circumstances in sentencing the two men, including the magnitude and duration of the offence, the harm to victims and the concealment of evidence. He also denied the defence lawyers’ request to reopen the trial and acquit the two men, saying he had no reason to believe there was a miscarriage of justice.
Lawyers for Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino are appealing the decision.
After the two men stood to receive their sentences, they were handcuffed and escorted out of a Toronto courtroom. They were released on bail hours later, pending the appeal.
The case dates back to 2015, when Bondfield, a once prominent Ontario construction company, was selected as the winning bidder to redevelop St. Michael’s, one of Canada’s premier health care facilities. A series of Globe and Mail stories published in 2015 and 2016 revealed that while Mr. Georgiou was working as one of the evaluators on Bondfield’s bid for the hospital project, he was personally involved in two businesses controlled by Mr. Aquino.
Justice Bawden, who read his sentencing in court, noted that Mr. Georgiou sued the hospital for wrongful dismissal after it fired him in 2015. Both men also pursued civil claims against The Globe because, the judge said, they were convinced that their misconduct would never be discovered.
Justice Bawden said he does not view the civil claims as an aggravating factor in the sentence, but added: “I find that they do demonstrate an utter lack of remorse on the part of the defendants.”
The Crown’s case against the two men focused on their alleged undisclosed business connections, as well as their secret communications throughout the bidding process over a bondfield.com e-mail address – BCCLDevelopment – and a BlackBerry that Mr. Aquino gave to Mr. Georgiou.
Justice Bawden said there are factors distinguishing the two defendants. In Mr. Aquino’s case, he said, there are no mitigating circumstances.
From the outset of the procurement, Mr. Aquino sought confidential information from Mr. Georgiou. When The Globe disclosed the two men’s business ties, Mr. Aquino “destroyed all digital records that could have confirmed the fraud,” the decision says. “His sole objective was to secure an unfair advantage over his competitors.”
In the case of Mr. Georgiou, he was determined to successfully conclude the hospital project, but “regrettably” he also felt a sense of indebtedness to Mr. Aquino, the judge said.
“Although this constituted an inexcusable breach of his duties [to the hospital], it is reasonably possible that Mr. Georgiou believed his misconduct could ultimately benefit the hospital.”
Justice Bawden cited other mitigating factors, including 11 letters from family members filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice by Mr. Georgiou’s lawyers and 21 letters from close friends, attesting to his many contributions to the community and his generosity toward those who have experienced difficulties in their lives.
During sentencing arguments in early February, Crown prosecutor Ellen Weis and defence lawyers sparred over whether the dollar value of losses sustained by victims of the fraud – including the hospital, Crown agency Infrastructure Ontario, and two rival bidders for the project – could be quantified.
Ms. Weis said the losses are straightforward with respect to how much the rival construction companies spent preparing their bids. PCL Construction alone, she said, was out-of-pocket $1.4-million.
Under the Criminal Code, the minimum mandatory prison term for fraud exceeding $1-million in Canada is two years. Peter Brauti, lawyer for Mr. Georgiou, told the court during sentencing arguments that the prosecution has failed to prove that the losses exceeded that threshold. As well, he said, there is no evidence of financial benefit to his client.
“The motive in this case for at least Mr. Georgiou was not greed,” Mr. Brauti said. “It was a terribly misguided set of dishonest acts in the name of friendship.”
Alan Gold, lawyer for Mr. Aquino, added that there is “nothing normal” about this case. “Frauds are usually obvious: somebody loses and somebody wins. Here, you don’t have that.”
In his decision, Justice Bawden says the quantifiable losses easily exceed the $1-million threshold. In rejecting defence lawyers’ assertions that the fraud caused little harm, he said, “The offences are very grave.”
Everyone who participated in the procurement did so on the understanding that the process was “tightly regulated and that its outcome would be demonstrably fair,” Justice Bawden said. They would not have done so, he added, had they known that Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino had undisclosed financial ties and were secretly communicating throughout the process.
The project, which includes a new 17-storey patient care tower, an expanded emergency department and a renovated intensive-care unit, was initially budgeted for $300-million and set for completion in 2019. It is now on track to be finished this year at a cost of $577-million.
The hospital said in a victim impact statement filed in court that the actions of Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino caused “real and lasting harm” to the foundation of trust upon which the hospital engages with patients, its community, and its donors. “The damage to our reputation and community confidence is profound and enduring.”