Toronto restaurateur charged with serving up McDonald’s-related scam

Fourteen years after calling him a “real-life Santa Claus” for his work feeding the homeless, the Toronto Sun is reporting that restaurateur Peter Tsatsaris has been charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000 and 11 counts of uttering a forged document. Tsatsaris is alleged to have bilked investors out of money by convincing them they were buying McDonald’s restaurants along Highway 407 in Thornhill. One of the scam’s alleged victims, known only as “Robert,” claims to have lost $500,000 from January to May 2009. He called police after speaking directly with McDonald’s, who advised him he was one of “X number of persons” to call about Tsatsaris and he should go to the authorities. Between 1994 and 2004, Tsatsaris was linked to local restaurants The Strand, Wildfire Steakhouse and Mars Uptown.

• Restaurateur charged with cooking up scam [Toronto Sun]