Several individuals have reached out to Speakers Corner following their experiences with a financial planner in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and are now seeking refunds and explanations.
Among those affected is Lada Vorobyova and her husband, who painstakingly paid off their Mississauga home in 2017 after years of hard work. They had hoped to retire early but now find their plans stalled and their home at risk.
Their troubles began after engaging with Serguei Totrov, a local financial planner and mortgage broker who targeted the Russian-speaking community with appealing retirement investment opportunities.
Trusting Totrov’s recommendations, Lada and her husband invested $320,000 based on promises of increasing returns. Initially, they received monthly interest payments, but the payments abruptly stopped in April of the following year.
Despite numerous meetings with Totrov, the couple received vague reassurances and no concrete solutions. Other investors, including a man named Val, shared similar experiences of promises unmet and investments unrecovered.
CityNews reached out to Totrov, who acknowledged the situation and claimed to be working on a plan to repay investors by pursuing legal action against those who defaulted on the loans he secured.
However, Totrov’s history of misconduct, documented by FP Canada in 2006 and 2023, raises concerns about his credibility. Although his financial planning certification was temporarily suspended, it has since been reinstated.
In response to the current complaints, FP Canada stated they are monitoring the situation but refrained from making further comments until the allegations are proven.
As investors like Lada and Val grapple with financial losses, legal actions are being considered to recover the funds. Lada and her husband are preparing to take Totrov to court, determined to seek justice and reclaim their hard-earned money.