Triple shooting tied to alleged mortgage fraud

Suspected killer 'could not handle losing our life savings,' wife says. Victims named in lawsuit over alleged complex fraud scheme

- JENNIFER PAGLIARO, WENDY GILLIS AND CALVI LEON

A triple shooting in North York saw one man take the lives of two people he believed had defrauded him and his family of their life savings, the Star has learned.

Toronto police have not released the name of the shooter, saying only that he was 46 years old and confirming he was among Monday's dead.

A source with knowledge of the investigation, however, has identified him as Alan Kats.

Kats's wife, Alisa Pogorelovsky, told the Star in an emailed statement Tuesday that her husband "could not handle losing our life savings."

A court decision details how the family sued a number of people and companies after losing $1.28 million in a mortgage fraud scheme. The lawsuit names the two other people left dead in this week's shooting.

Arash Missaghi, 54, was one of those killed, police confirmed Tuesday. Missaghi has long been embroiled in a web of civil and criminal legal action, including the most recent lawsuit, in which lawyers for Pogorelovsky alleged they had "uncovered a network of shell companies whose directorship once or presently included Arash Missaghi and his relatives."

Samira Yousefi, 44, was also killed, police said. She was named in the same lawsuit as running a front in the mortgage fraud scheme and inducing investments from Pogorelovsky's family.

"The events that gave rise to the litigation that we are involved in with Missaghi and Yousefi have devastated and now destroyed our family," Pogorelovsky's statement said. "Alan could not handle losing our life's savings and that is what led to this tragic event. He wrote a note before he died that I found today which explains what he was thinking and why he acted as he did."

A copy of the note was provided to the Star.

Three people were found dead after police were called to a commercial building at 25 Mallard Rd., near Don Mills and York Mills roads, on Monday afternoon. A senior investigator said the shooter was among them.