Former Lester B. Pearson School Board official pleads guilty to fraud, embezzlement

Caroline Mastantuono, once the head of Lester B. Pearson School Board's international department, has pleaded guilty to charges related to fraud and embezzlement, Quebec court documents show.

In 2020, Quebec's anti-corruption unit laid charges against Mastantuono, her daughter Christina Mastantuono, who also worked in the department, and Naveen Kolan, a Toronto-based consultant with Edu Edge Inc. (EEI).

Between 2011 and 2016, the English-language, Montreal-area school board's international department grew from seven students to 777, bringing in millions of dollars in tuition fees.

The agreed statement of facts, signed by both prosecution and defence counsels on May 13, outlines the use of two schemes to commit various offences between June 2014 and March 2016.

The first scheme concerns the forgery of documents and their use in order to obtain the immigration status of international students registered for Lester B. Pearson programming, the statement of facts says.

The scheme involved the forgery of receipts of tuition payment, intended to secure Quebec Acceptance Certificates (CAQs) for international students, the statement says.

Mastantuono instructed staff members to forge false receipts, misleading authorities into issuing CAQs to students who didn't meet financial requirements. This scheme resulted in the issuance of 81 false receipts totalling $1,648,281. However, LBPSB received only $172,497, the court document shows.

The second scheme centred on the embezzlement of funds through unauthorized payments to a recruitment agency, 0984616 BC LTD, owned by Kolan, the statement says.

Mastantuono facilitated the payment of commissions to the agency, totalling $76,698, for students who had applied without an agent. Additionally, a forensic analysis revealed that the agency received $118,953 from the school board, with a substantial portion of its income originating from Kolan's company.

According to court documents, it was two staff members in the international department who discovered students without an agent had been assigned to a B.C.-based numbered company registered in the name of Kolan's wife, Suneetha Yanala.

Christina Mastantuono allegedly told staff this was done to "compensate Naveen Kolan for the money supposedly owed to him" by the school board. However, there were no signed agreements between the board and the B.C. recruiting company.

By pleading guilty, Mastantuono waived her right to stand trial.

Sentencing proceedings are pending, with no joint submission from counsels regarding the appropriate sentence for Mastantuono's offences.