Since Mr. Missaghi was killed six months ago, The Globe set out to reveal how long he had managed to avoid Criminal Code convictions – a difficult task because data about such cases are not available in any public database.
To understand why these prosecutions failed, The Globe combed through hundreds of pages of court documents and spoke to victims, police investigators and lawyers involved in civil lawsuits against Mr. Missaghi.
The Integrated Court Offences Network is used by Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney-General to document the progress of criminal court cases. The Globe requested from the ministry ICON file numbers about Mr. Missaghi and received references to many cases initiated between 2000 and 2021.
But no details were available. So The Globe approached clerks in four Ontario court complexes to unpack information about the specific charges he had faced.
The public has no direct access to ICON terminals so Globe reporters at times listened and took notes as clerks read record entries from their screens, reading numbered charges referring to specific sections of the Criminal Code.
These cases that were logged against Mr. Missaghi were almost always marked as “withdrawn” before trials. The exception was a 2006 case where he was acquitted at trial.
To better understand how cases evolved — and collapsed — The Globe requested audio recordings or paper records from courts, and spoke to some people named as co-accused and victims.
The oldest criminal case files are archived and not immediately retrievable to the public. Toronto Police responded to a freedom-of-information request for Mr. Missaghi’s criminal records by saying that information would not be publicly disclosed until 2054 – 30 years from now – due to privacy reasons.
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General issued a statement that did not address the specifics of the failed investigations. Instead, the statement said that in general, prosecutors must withdraw charges where there is no reasonable prospect of conviction or no public interest to proceed.
“We have no further comment about these specific cases,” the ministry’s Keesha Seaton said in response to questions about Mr. Missaghi’s criminal history.
The statement said the province has strengthened its ability to investigate with the creation of the Serious Fraud Office in 2018, a joint initiative of the OPP, municipal police services and government ministries.