Three executives from a collapsed Ontario home construction company have been charged by provincial regulators in connection with the illegal sale of 453 homes, separate from an alleged $37 million fraud scheme that left hundreds of families without the houses they paid for.
The Home Construction Regulatory Authority announced Tuesday that brothers Dino and Carlo Taurasi, who founded StateView Homes, and former chief financial officer Daniel Ciccone face charges for failing to prevent violations of provincial housing laws.
The regulatory charges follow a two-year investigation triggered by the company’s 2023 collapse amid fraud allegations. The case affected nearly 800 families and involved hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Court filings show Ciccone allegedly operated a “cheque-kiting scheme” — a form of fraud involving writing bad checks between accounts — from April 2022 to March 2023. Prosecutors say he wrote hundreds of fraudulent checks totaling $37 million using 22 accounts at TD Bank and RBC.
The scheme was discovered in March 2023 when Ciccone called an emergency meeting with the Taurasi brothers. According to court documents, Dino Taurasi found Ciccone “visibly shaking while repeating: ‘I f—-d up.'”
Bank investigators later found evidence that “Dino’s signature had been clearly forged” on company documents, the court filings state.
The collapse had severe financial consequences. StateView had collected $77.2 million in deposits from 765 homebuyers but retained only $1.095 million when a court-appointed receiver took control in May 2023. Creditors were owed $349 million, according to the receiver’s report.
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According to regulatory findings, StateView also sold homes on land it didn’t own.
Dino and Carlo Taurasi founded StateView Homes in 2010 in Woodbridge, Ontario. Ciccone, described as a childhood friend, joined as CFO in 2011 and gained exclusive control over company finances.
The HCRA suspended StateView’s licenses in July 2023. No StateView entities currently hold active building licenses in Ontario.
Legal proceedings
The fraud allegations and regulatory violations have spawned multiple lawsuits.
The Taurasi brothers have sued Ciccone, claiming they were unaware of the fraudulent activities. “Daniel’s wrongful actions and TD’s and RBC’s failure to detect them has harmed us, our company, our customers and our stakeholders,” the brothers said in a statement.
TD Bank sued StateView to recover the $37 million. A proposed class-action lawsuit seeks the return of deposits lost when StateView became insolvent.
Separately, the HCRA found StateView conducted home sales without proper licensing and failed to secure required warranty approvals for hundreds of properties — violations of provincial homebuilding laws distinct from the fraud allegations.
“When builders fail to meet their legal obligations, the HCRA will take every necessary step to hold them accountable,” said Wendy Moir, HCRA’s chief executive officer.
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