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- A lawyer was suspended after trying to sue his former "sugar baby" for C$226 million ($166 million).
- Azmal Ramal-Shah said he was the victim of fraud after the woman made excuses to avoid seeing him.
- But a court said his conduct during the lawsuit was "unbecoming" and suspended him for a month.
A lawyer who tried to sue his former "sugar baby" for C$229 million ($169 million) has been suspended after a court ruled he had become "obsessed" with the woman.
The Law Society of Ontario revoked Toronto lawyer Azmat Ramal-Shah's licence for a month starting April 25 after ruling that he "engaged in professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming" in his pursuit of damages for fraud after his arrangement with a student broke down.
According to court documents, Ramal-Shah, then 30, met the then-18-year-old University of Ottawa student in 2016 on Seeking Arrangement, a website where "sugar babies" and "sugar daddies" can meet.
The arrangement was described as "virtual," with the woman listening to Ramal-Shah talk about his problems and providing him with friendship. Ramal-Shah would pay her expenses including rent, and let her use his Uber Eats and Uber accounts.
He estimates he paid the woman $20,000 over the period of their "relationship" between May 2016 and March 2018.
But after meeting in person for dinner in Ottawa a few months into the arrangement, the woman alleged that Ramal-Shah's behavior began to make her feel unsafe. She claimed Ramal-Shah would interrogate her about who she had spent time with and insult her.
His behavior led the woman to attempt to sever ties with Ramal-Shah.
Court documents show she made up excuses including that she had broken her leg, that her aunt had died, and that she was being treated for cancer, to avoid seeing him again.
In a bid for revenge, Ramal-Shah began contacting her friends, her mother, and her boyfriend, setting up several social media accounts to continue his attacks, per other documents reviewed by CTV.
Ramal-Shah urged the woman's mother to offer a settlement to keep the matter out of courts, before eventually suing the family.
"I've tried reasoning with [her] but I don't think she ever loved me, this [has] all been about exploiting me for money," according to an email from Ramal-Shah to the woman's mother submitted as evidence.
"At this point, I don't believe there was a broken leg or surgeons or chemotherapy," the lawyer wrote. "I really thought [she] had cancer – clearly I was mistaken and was a victim of fraud."
The court rejected Ramal-Shah's lawsuit because it was outside the statute of limitations and was "frivolous, vexatious, or otherwise an abuse of process." He was ordered to pay the woman's family C$15,000 (about $11,000) in reimbursements for legal costs.
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