FOREX NEW YORK COMPANIES

A 71-year-old lawyer from Etobicoke has been charged with money laundering in connection with a two-year international drug investigation by the RCMP that has resulted in arrests and freezing of assets worth more than $7 million.

On Thursday, police officers raided the Steeles Ave. office of lawyer Kenneth James, as well as a home on Willowridge Rd. in Etobicoke.

James has been charged with money laundering, possessing the proceeds of crime and fraud over $5,000.

A 61-year-old employee, Rosemary Cremer, has also been charged with money laundering and possessing the proceeds of crime.

Cremer shares a residence with James, according to Det. Insp. Derek Matchett, of the RCMP’s Integrated Proceeds of Crime unit. The Etobicoke home raided Thursday was purchased by Cremer in 1993, property records show.

Matchett said the RCMP began a two-year investigation into James shortly after an international drug investigation began in May 2010.

That investigation has led to arrests and the freezing of $7 million in assets, he said. Matchett said he cannot talk about the drug investigation because it is currently covered by a publication ban.

“This is a very complicated case and . . . we have a lot of work ahead of us,” he said Friday. “What we’re talking about is drug traffickers who make millions of dollars and then need to place that money into financial institutions — or need to ‘clean’ it, for lack of a better word.”

Charges have also been laid against three companies: James and Associates, Eveline Holdings Inc., and Sterling Capital Inc. The RCMP alleges these companies are under the control of James and were used to launder the proceeds of crime, Matchett said.

In May 2010, James was charged with professional misconduct by the Law Society of Upper Canada. In a notice of application, the Law Society alleged that James knowingly assisted with “fraudulent or dishonest conduct” in connection with some mortgage transactions in which he represented the lenders, vendor and purchaser.

The proceedings do not appear to have concluded, and James is still listed as a licensed lawyer on the Law Society’s website.

James has also been involved with a number of civil cases involving real estate deals. In 1990, he was sued, along with several other defendants, by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church alleged that James and the other defendants defrauded them in connection with four land purchases.

James has also been sued in connection with legal services he provided between 1996 and 1999 on six condo units in Orillia. Two condo owners sued after the condo mortgages defaulted in 2001, alleging James had a conflict of interest and was in breach of contract and fiduciary duty.

In 2006, James filed for bankruptcy in Ontario. He declared in his bankruptcy filing that he had $4,505,000 in liabilities and $1,418,500 in assets.

James and Cremer were both expected to appear in a Newmarket court on Friday afternoon.