TORONTO, Ontario--Toronto Police have charged the founder of the 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings franchise chain with fraud.
According to The Toronto Star, company President Reza Solhi, 36, faces charges on 13 counts of fraud higher than $5,000 in connection with the illegal sale of franchises.
Also charged is Farzad Bagherzadeh, 31, named as an executive of companies connected with 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings, including the company's call center.
Police say the two men targeted used television, radio, newspaper and magazine advertisements promising a complete business operation with training and support.
"A number of people from across Canada responded to these advertisements and subsequently dealt with the accused men," Detective Ted Gaskin of the Toronto police fraud squad said in a news release. "Those people who expressed a desire to become franchisees (and) made significant payments for the franchises ... never received their stores and the accused men refused to return their monies."
The charges relate to the period from September 1999, to July 2003.
In 2003 The Star reported that Solhi, Bagherzadeh and their companies had been named in some 20 lawsuits and counterclaims involving former and prospective franchisees.
Judges have ordered refunds in a few cases, but plaintiffs have had difficulty recovering their investments.
Solhi told the newspaper last year that "Many wild and unfounded allegations have been made by adverse parties. These adverse parties are really 'bad apples' who have caused a lot of damage to 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings."
Read also Judge finds 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings guilty of improper disclosure.
