B.C. real estate council probes transfer council, charged, related, office, estate

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B.C. real estate council probes transfer of accused killer's house to wife
UN gang leader Conor D'Monte, a fugitive, visited a Burnaby lawyer's office for the transaction

METRO VANCOUVER -- The Real Estate Council of B.C. is investigating a series of transactions related to a house that was owned by accused killer and United Nations gang leader Conor D'Monte.

D'Monte remains a fugitive after being charged in January with the first-degree murder of a rival.

But The Vancouver Sun revealed Monday that he visited a Burnaby lawyer's office April 1 to sign over his $1.6 million house to his wife Jennifer Kong for a dollar.

Kong later applied for and received her realtor's licence and is working with Sutton Group-West Coast Realty, the same company that listed the house at 7350 Pandora for sale, effective June 1, 2011.

The listing agent is identified as Sutton's Jenna Lowe and not Richard Morrison, as the Sun reported Monday. Morrison simply reposted the ad for the palatial Burnaby view property on his online site.

Real Estate Council spokesman Tyler Davis said the regulatory body is looking into all the events surrounding the house ownership.

"The council is aware of this and our compliance folks have opened an investigation file into it," Davis said Monday.

He said someone applying for a realtor's licence is subjected to a criminal record check, though the council does not look at whether the person has relatives or associates who are alleged to be involved in organized crime.

Sutton Group office manager Dale Murchison said he could not comment yet on the situation.

He confirmed the listing is still active and held by Lowe, a Sutton agent.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is also probing the transfer of the house by D'Monte while he was on the run from authorities.

The lawyer who witnessed the transfer told The Sun that he didn't know who D'Monte was when the accused killer attended the Metrotown office to sign the transfer document.

"He came to my office to sign. He signed in my office and produced ID and I wasn't aware of any of the background of the file," lawyer Larry Routtenberg said, adding that he later consulted the B.C. Law Society about the transaction and is "not allowed to discuss it."

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Law Society communications officer Lesley Pritchard said she couldn't discuss this case in particular.

But she said generally, "a lawyer would not be obligated to call police if they discover they have been assisting a known fugitive."

She said a situation like that would be covered by "solicitor-client privilege" and is spelled out in detail in the Professional Conduct Handbook.

The only time a lawyer is allowed to call police is if they believe a client is about to hurt someone.

"A lawyer may disclose information received as a result of a solicitor-client relationship if the lawyer has reasonable grounds to believe that the disclosure is necessary to prevent a crime involving death or serious bodily harm to any person," Pritchard said.

"So they cannot contact police to give information which they have obtained in the solicitor-client relationship, unless, perhaps, the client tells them they are going to harm a specific person on a specific date."

D'Monte and co-accused Cory Vallee are on Interpol's Most Wanted List after being charged Jan. 24 with first-degree murder in the 2009 Langley slaying of Red Scorpion Kevin LeClair.

The two are also charged, with six others linked to the UN gang, with plotting to kill the Bacon brothers and their associates.

IHIT has been actively searching for the accused gangsters since the charges were laid and has sought assistance from international law enforcement agencies, believing the two may have fled Canada.

D'Monte's alleged victim was shot to death outside an IGA grocery store in a busy strip mall about 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. The targeted hit was one of several during a bloody gang war in early 2009.

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The Burnaby home belonging to Conor D'Monte, a founding member of the United Nations gang

Conor Vincent D'Monte


A leading member of the UN Gang, Conor D'Monte (left) has been charged with murder, as has Cory Vallee, 34 (right)