Particle.news
Download on the App Store
5 ARTICLES
·
2h ago

Ex-Hospital Executive and Builder Found Guilty in St. Michael’s Procurement Fraud

The ruling caps a decade-long saga over a $300 million redevelopment, now years late and mired in lawsuits.

The patient care tower at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, in August, 2018.
John Aquino arrives at the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Toronto on October 7, 2025. (Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail)
Vas Georgiou leaves the Superior Court of Justice courthouse in Toronto on Oct. 7. Mr. Georgiou and John Aquino were convicted of fraud related to the redevelopment of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital.
Former St. Michael's Hospital executive Vas Georgiou, right, leaves court with his lawyer Peter Brauti last year. Georgiou was found guilty of two counts of fraud on Tuesday.

Overview

  • Superior Court Justice Peter Bawden convicted Vas Georgiou and John Aquino on two counts of fraud over $5,000 each for corrupting the St. Michael’s redevelopment procurement.
  • The judge said evidence of dishonest conduct was overwhelming, citing secret emails via a bondfield.com account and a BlackBerry supplied to Georgiou by Aquino.
  • Court exhibits included a May 18, 2014 email in which Georgiou advised Aquino to exclude certain costs from Bondfield’s bid, saying they could “fight later when we are No. 1.”
  • Sentencing remains pending, with Aquino’s lawyer calling the reasons problematic in law and declining to say whether an appeal will follow.
  • Bondfield’s collapse triggered insurer intervention and a change of contractor to EllisDon, with Zurich’s related lawsuit ongoing and project completion now targeted for 2026.