Iranians are all familiar with Mahmoud Reza Khavari. He was a former Iranian banker who fled to Canada after a massive $2.6 billion financial fraud came to light in 2011. He was tried in absentia over embezzling billions. In December 2017, Khavari was sentenced to 30 years in prison for disrupting the economic system of the country and for receiving a bribe. The court also sentenced him to pay a large fine equal to the amount of the bribe he received.
When Mahmoud Reza Khavari fled to Canada in 2011 thousands of Iranian-Canadians signed petitions, protested in front of the house he used to own in the affluent Bridle Path neighbourhood in Toronto and called on the Canadian conservative government to extradite Khavari back to Iran to stand trial. While Interpol placed Khavari on its Red Notice Wanted list, efforts to have him extradited to Iran have gone nowhere so far.
In 2016, several media outlets reported a financial dispute between Khavari’s family and Sam Mizrahi over their partnership in Mizrahi’s real estate development projects in Toronto. However, a new website under the name of Mahmoud Reza Khavari’s son has revealed a broader portfolio of investments by the Khavaris.
One of the companies Khavari’s son claims to own is called Peer to Peer Hospitality Group. The domain for the company was registered back in 2017. According to the information on their website they currently own 4 restaurants in Toronto and are opening another one soon on King Street West. The name of the restaurants are Cava, Chabrol, Atlas, Tanto, and they will open Lapin in the next couple of months according to the information available on the website of Peer to Peer Hospitality Group. Whether Mahmoud Reza Khavari himself has any role or involvement in these businesses is not clear.
