Former Liberal MP sued by father-in-law, who alleges mortgage fraud and forged signatures

Former Liberal MP Rajvinder Grewal’s mounting legal troubles now include a claim for $1-million in damages from his own father-in-law, who alleges he was the victim of mortgage fraud and identity theft.

In three separate lawsuits, Kailash Kasal has alleged that his son-in-law, Mr. Grewal, fraudulently used Mr. Kasal’s businesses and properties to borrow tens of millions of dollars and also move money obtained by fraud.

There are more than 30 civil suits that name Mr. Grewal as a defendant in connection with approximately $17-million in funds allegedly diverted from clients of RSG Law, the law firm that he founded, along with close to $200-million more in unpaid loans ostensibly for commercial real estate development. None of the allegations have been tested in court.

Mr. Grewal is a lawyer, but has agreed not practise during a disciplinary proceeding brought by provincial legal regulator the Law Society of Ontario that could result in the revocation of his licence.

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In July, a group of private lenders led by Mark Cesana, the managing director of the Hardrock Group of Companies, a major concrete construction company, filed a civil claim seeking the return of $107-million in overdue loans. Defendants in the suit included Mr. Grewal, his father Avtar Grewal, his wife Shikha Kasal, Mr. Kasal, RSG Law, and more than a dozen other associates or corporations.

Seven companies and multiple properties owned by Mr. Kasal were described as providing security and collateral for loans to Mr. Grewal, including one loan for $17-million and another for $31-million executed on the same date in September, 2024.

In a Sept. 9 counterclaim against the Cesana lawsuit, Mr. Kasal denies he knew anything about the loans and states the lenders were “reckless and/or negligent and the plaintiffs are the authors of their own misfortune.”

The document goes on to include a crossclaim against some of his fellow defendants – Mr. Grewal, RSG Law and its new owner Davinder Singh Khattra – seeking $1-million in damages for “negligent or fraudulent representation” that he or his companies were involved in the loans. Mr. Khattra’s licence to practise law has been suspended as he awaits disciplinary hearings at the Law Society Tribunal.

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The claim also argues Mr. Cesana and his fellow lenders were “willfully blind” and should have to explain “their recklessness and/or negligence” in seeking to register security on loans only after the funds had been transmitted to Mr. Grewal.

According to the claim, the lenders transferred funds to Mr. Grewal without checking with Mr. Kasal if the involvement of his companies was legitimate. The filing also questions the source of funds loaned to Mr. Grewal: “Such an explanation should include details as to whether the Plaintiffs’ monies were lawfully obtained and/or were being invested for a lawful purpose and were not an exercise in ‘laundering funds.’ ”

In a separate lawsuit filed in August, Mr. Kasal is seeking $5-million in damages for similar title fraud allegations against 15 different lenders. He states the lenders also wrongfully registered $18.8-million in loans against several of his properties without his knowledge. Mr. Grewal is not named in that claim, but RSG Law is referenced as the address of one of the lenders.

Mr. Grewal is also a defendant in a civil suit brought by National Bank of Canada in June. National Bank is seeking the return of $4.1-million in mortgage funds the bank alleges were fraudulently diverted to a number of companies, including $195,000 that was sent to a truck stop owned by Mr. Kasal in January, 2025.

In a Sept. 25 affidavit in that case, Mr. Kasal, who denies any knowledge of the truck stop transaction, described yet another instance when a multi-million dollar loan was added to a property he owned, though he claims he never received any of the $13.5-million in funds, and alleges signatures in the transaction were forged.

“The signatures purported to be mine … are not mine and any email address associated with the Docusign signatures is not mine. Furthermore, the one ink signature of Vinod Kasal, who is my wife, is a clear forgery,” he said. He alleges that Mr. Grewal was behind that loan, and others involving his businesses: “It is also consistent with a broader pattern of unauthorized mortgages and encumbrances against my properties.”

Mr. Kasal said in his affidavit he has co-operated with National Bank. An explanation he provided for not asking his son-in-law about the missing cash highlights more family tension.

“I had not asked Mr. Grewal or his employee about the $195,000 that came into the account as I had only learned about it as part of this proceeding by which time Mr. Grewal had become estranged from my daughter and I did not want to do anything to antagonize Mr. Grewal in a manner that may affect my grandchildren or my daughter,” Mr. Kasal said.

The claims from his father-in-law come as recent developments put Mr. Grewal under more legal pressure. On Sept. 24, the LSO filed a motion to take full control of the law firm Mr. Grewal founded. On Oct. 9, Peel Regional Police published an appeal seeking information related to RSG Law for what it called a “criminal investigation into allegations of fraud and breach of trust.”

Elected as a Liberal in Brampton East during former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s 2015 victory, Mr. Grewal later admitted he lost millions of dollars gambling in Quebec casinos. Fraud allegations tied to the gambling scandal led to his resignation from politics in 2018, though related charges were dropped and he was found not guilty of others during a trial in 2023.