A lack of court resources derailed a criminal case against a former Toronto printer accused of bilking dozens of investors out of $27-million, says a lawyer representing one of his creditors.
Police charged Tzvi Erez with fraud last year, a few months after his business, E Graphix Ltd., went bankrupt.
For years, Mr. Erez had allegedly claimed that he was handling major printing contracts and, in exchange for investment in his business, offered to pay out big returns.
A receiver's report, however, alleged that the actual printing business was fairly small, with forged invoices and purchase orders giving the impression of a much larger company.
Instead, police claimed, Mr. Erez was simply running a Ponzi scheme - using money from new investors to pay the rates of return to his original investors.
But in September, Crown prosecutors opted to drop the charges, citing a lack of resources to go ahead with the complicated case, said Lou Brzezinski, who represented William Tencer, a creditor of Mr. Erez's whose complaint helped launch the criminal case.
By pursuing the case against Mr. Erez, prosecutors risked prolonging the prosecution of violent crimes because of a lack of court resources. Those could have been dismissed on the grounds they took too long to work their way through the courts.
"They had a Sophie's choice, and they chose not to pursue this," he said. "If they spent time on this, other cases wouldn't get a speedy trial."
Mr. Tencer's civil case, meanwhile, ended when it became clear the ex-printer didn't have any money left, said Mr. Brzezinski.
Crown prosecutors and lawyers for Mr. Erez could not be immediately reached for comment.
Married with two children, Mr. Erez is the son of a respected land developer, holds a business degree and was once a classical concert pianist who released two well-regarded albums.
His alleged scheme began in 2003 and mostly targeted members of the city's Jewish community.