Ontario Fraud Lawyer: We defend all forms of fraud under and over $5000 charges.

Police in Ontario sometimes lay CC s. 380 fraud charges despite weak evidence or in circumstances that should be dealt with via civil litigation, not criminal charges.

Ontario fraud accused will usually receive an Undertaking or Appearance Notice with a fingerprinting and court date. If held for bail, the accused may be released via a Release Order.

Anyone charged with fraud (under or over $5000) should hire their own lawyer immediately to speak to the Crown first. The Crown makes critical decisions early on that will determine if and how heavily they prosecute you.

Our lawyers work to convince the Crown to drop fraud charges in cases of weak evidence and when charges are improperly laid by the police for what should be considered a civil dispute.

The police may have wrongly charged you with fraud for what should be classified as a non-criminal civil dispute.

Complainants (alleged victims) sometimes file police reports to have fraud charges laid after a business or employment related disagreement. This allows the complainant to use the criminal justice system to recover their losses through a restitution order and avoid an expensive/risky lawsuit (to the detriment of the accused).

Fearing jail, a criminal record, and other consequences, the accused may reluctantly agree to pay restitution to the complainant in exchange for the charges being dropped. No innocent accused should feel pressured to pay.

The Criminal Code prescribes penalties for fraud of up to 14 years in prison, fines, restitution orders (could be millions), and a criminal record.

A fraud conviction permanently damages the accused's reputation and shows up on police and employment background checks. Offenders find themselves no longer trusted and can have problems with employment and travel for life.

Post-conviction secondary consequences for fraud offenders include:

1. being considered unhirable by most companies and government entities;


2. being declared a person of bad character due to conduct unbecoming and therefore not eligible for membership in regulated professions like nursing, engineering, teaching, etc.;


3. being deemed inadmissible to enter the United States for committing an offence of moral turpitude; and,


4. having the fraud conviction used as evidence of your bad character in other unrelated proceedings such as in family court, before the landlord and tenant board, or any other administrative tribunals or hearings.

We use prior fraud case precedents from the same courthouse to convince the Crown to drop wrongly laid charges.

Crowns will drop charges if they have done so before in similar circumstances. We use our own internal fraud case precedents from throughout Ontario to help convince the Crown not to proceed.

Whether you did anything wrong or not, the first step in defending yourself is remaining silent and not speaking to the police, private investigators, coworkers, or other third parties about the allegations. They want you to make the admissions they need to convict you (such as mens rea).

Investigators may need your statement to charge or jail you.

Don't talk yourself into being charged or sent to prison. It is easy to make incriminating statements when confronted with wrongdoing. Some accused will say things they shouldn't because they fear they will get fired from their job or get in more trouble by staying silent. Had they not said anything they wouldn't have been charged to begin with in some cases.

Even if you defrauded your employer there may not be enough evidence to convict you in court if tested at a trial. If you confess or make admissions (thinking you were helping yourself) to investigators (police or private) you may give them what they need to have you charged or sent to prison.

In some cases they can only prove a small amount and need you to admit to the rest. They use the good evidence they have for the small fraud to convince you they already know everything and to confess to much more.

Ontario Crowns often seek 2+ year prison sentences (pen time) for larger fraud cases, even for first time offenders.

If the Crown won't drop the charges we will defend you at trial and challenge every element of their "evidence".

If the police wrongly took the word of the complainant over yours, their evidence (testimony) may fall apart under cross-examination at trial. Being the first to complain does not make them right. We will conduct our own investigation to figure out exactly what happened and use the truth to defend you.

We use our own expert witnesses to uncover inconsistencies, missing evidence, and police bias. We use forensic accountants, private investigators, and other court experts to testify in your favour and prove your innocence.

If the complainant has less than clean hands we will demonstrate this in court during cross-examination to undermine their credibility and raise reasonable doubt. We will prove they are lying or omitting key details that work in your favour and support your acquittal.

If you or someone you want to help has been charged with fraud anywhere in Ontario, give us a call now at 647-228-5969 or text/iMessage us "Lawyer" by clicking here.

---

You don't have to jeopardize your future or waste thousands of dollars on excessive legal fees. We provide effective and affordable lawyer representation for those charged with fraud in Ontario.

Have a skilled criminal lawyer who defends fraud charges throughout Ontario protect you and your future from the stigma and consequences of a criminal record and conviction.

Are you a lawyer? If you are defending a criminal fraud case and are looking for expert advice regarding possible defences, case strategies, and information release management call us at: 647-228-5969.

Please note: We do not accept legal aid certificate cases. All clients are handled on a private retainer only.

*2026 Results: the percentage of 99% of clients avoiding a criminal record (conviction) stated on this page is based solely on Lawyer Mark Zinck's personal representation of approximately 2000 criminal defence case clients as of the year 2026. Past results are not necessarily an indication of future results.