Bank sues wife of former Litz CFO accused of fraud

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This article was published 23/12/2019 (1830 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE wife of a Winnipeg man accused of sending a century-old crane company into bankruptcy after allegedly defrauding it of $4 million is now facing legal action of her own.

In a lawsuit filed last week, the National Bank of Canada is suing Justyna Ramdath for $102,000, alleging she entered into a loan agreement for a Maserati automobile in September 2017 and, but for a $15,000 down payment, has made no loan payments.

According to the lawsuit, the vehicle remains in Ramdath’s possession.

Ramdath’s husband, Peter Ramdath, the former chief financial officer for R. Litz and Sons Company Ltd., was arrested in January 2018 and charged with fraud, theft, falsification of books and documents, money laundering and possession of property obtained by crime. Peter Ramdath is set to stand trial in April 2020.

Last month, Manitoba Justice filed a court motion prohibiting the couple from liquidating, selling or otherwise disposing of certain assets in advance of a formal decision forfeiting them to the Crown.

At that time, a judge had already approved an interim injunction prohibiting the sale or transfer of a Tudor Crescent home and a 2016 BMW sports utility vehicle owned by a named co-defendant who is not facing criminal charges in the matter.

Other assets at issue include homes in East St. Paul and on Manitoba Avenue, a 2008 Aston Martin automobile, jewelry (including a $43,000 ring), designer sunglasses, handbags and shoes, and the contents of multiple bank accounts.

Manitoba Justice alleges Peter Ramdath created and entered fraudulent invoices into Litz’s accounting system to artificially inflate the credit available on the company’s credit lines, ultimately redirecting $3.9 million to his own personal credit cards and line of credit.

In October, Litz sued two auditing firms for $50 million for being negligent in not detecting the alleged fraud.

The allegations against Peter and Justyna Ramdath have not been proven in court.