Toronto — The Law Society of Ontario (LSO) is under scrutiny after it failed to detect years of alleged fraud at Cartel & Bui LLP, a Toronto boutique law firm accused of stealing more than $7 million in client funds.
According to court filings, managing partner Singa Bui admitted in an affidavit that she had been diverting money from the firm’s trust accounts since 2014 to cover personal expenses, including luxury travel, fine dining, and private school tuition. Despite this, a routine 2022 spot audit by the LSO did not raise red flags, even though bank statements at the time showed nearly $140,000 in withdrawals to American Express and payments to a child-care centre.
Victims and fraud experts argue the oversight body should have acted sooner. “They didn’t do their job,” said one client who lost over $200,000 in the scheme. Forensic accountant David Debenham added that trust account audits “presume honesty” and are designed to catch accounting errors, not deliberate fraud.
The fraud primarily targeted real estate transactions, where lawyers are legally required to hold large sums in trust on behalf of buyers and sellers. This has sparked wider concerns over the vulnerability of Ontario’s legal system to financial misconduct.
Disciplinary charges have now been brought against both Bui and her husband, Nicholas Cartel, alleging multiple counts of misappropriation and dishonesty. If proven, both face disbarment. The couple is also facing criminal charges after previously serving jail time for contempt of court in related civil cases.
The Law Society has declined to comment on the specifics of its 2022 audit, citing confidentiality rules, but said that misconduct uncovered during audits is typically escalated to professional regulation.
For many victims, the response came far too late. “This should have been caught years ago,” said another former client, still fighting for compensation.
