Ex-real estate agent pleads guilty for role in Project South extortion plot - Toronto Star

Mahyar Soldouzi was given a 16-month conditional sentence that will include house arrest.

Mahyar Soldouzi, left, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion, admitting a peripheral involvement in an expansive York Regional Police investigation into police corruption known as Project South.

A former real estate agent caught on Project South wiretaps discussing the collection of a debt — including threats of breaking legs and hurling of a Molotov cocktail at a residence — has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion.

Mahyar Soldouzi admitted to his peripheral involvement in an expansive York Regional Police investigation into police corruption that began with a thwarted attempt to murder a jail official at the Toronto South Detention Centre, and snowballed from there into what is known as Project South.

Soldouzi’s guilty plea on Wednesday was followed by a 16-month conditional sentence, proposed in a joint submission, and accepted by Justice Catherine Rhinelander of the Superior Court of Justice. Soldouzi, 43, will be under house arrest for six months, followed by five months under curfew, and two years of probation, along with a number of conditions, including no contact with the victim.

Dressed in a blue suit, shirt and tie, and brown leather shoes, Soldouzi sat with his lawyer, Ariyan Zaraineh, as Crown attorney Sandra Duffey read out an agreed statement of facts.

Police wiretaps on Project South co-accused Ryan Cribbie captured six phone calls between Cribbie and Soldouzi in which the men discussed the collection of a debt as high as $24,000 over an unfinished home renovation job at the home of Soldouzi’s parents, according to the statement of facts.

A cellphone photo of Project South co-accused Ryan Cribbie.

“Cribbie said he would throw a Molotov cocktail through the window, beat up the target when he runs out, and then get the money,” according to the agreed statement of facts. “Cribbie said that (he) has done this before and everyone pays.”

Cribbie faces charges that remain before the courts, and the agreed statement of facts from Soldouzi’s case is not proof of the allegations against him. Those allegations have yet to be tested or proven in court. The Star sought comment from Cribbie’s lawyer but did not receive a response.

Cribbie and Soldouzi knew each other through a Narcotics Anonymous group, where Soldouzi acted as a sponsor. Cribbie, according to the statement of facts, was “actively using” drugs and confided in Soldouzi that he was “struggling financially,” due to an ill son and the “state of his marriage.”

Cribbie’s communications, as well as those of Toronto police officer Timothy Barnhardt and others, were all part of an investigation that uncovered a swath of stunning allegations, from police conducting database searches on behalf of criminals to officers’ scheme to set up illegal cannabis dispensaries and erotic massage parlours.

Barnhardt is alleged to have leaked address information on the jail manager, among a long list of other alleged criminal acts, and has been held in jail since the Project South arrests in February.

On Oct. 15, 2025, Cribbie asked Soldouzi in a phone call about the unpaid debt owed his family if “that offer is still open,” according to the agreed statement of facts. Soldouzi said he wasn’t sure “because his mother is worried about it.” Cribbie asked for the information on the person who owes the money and that he can “go get it,” and Soldouzi’s mother doesn’t need to know.

The “offer” was for Cribbie to collect on the debt and receive a portion in return.

Newly unsealed court records allege a Toronto police officer was involved in one of the biggest corruption scandals in the city’s history.

Soldouzi was later heard on wiretaps telling Cribbie he’d come to the “meeting” and give him an envelope with the “target’s address.” In a subsequent call, Soldouzi gave Cribbie an address in Richmond Hill, and Soldouzi said he was unsure if the target still lived there.

Cribbie allegedly said he would bring a “bunch of racist guys with him and get the job done.” He assured that he would keep Soldouzi’s name out of any debt collecting discussions and “will threaten to break” the target’s legs, according to the statement of facts.

Mahyar Soldouzi, one of the civilians accused in Project South, with his lawyer Ariyan Zaraineh outside 361 University Ave. court, Oct. 28, 2026. 

Soldouzi told Cribbie, “Do what you gotta do.”

After police warned the occupant of the house that he was being targeted, as well as a young family renting a suite there, they all left for safety concerns. On the wiretap, Cribbie told Soldouzi he was conducting surveillance at various locations. However, police were tracking Cribbie, and say there was “no evidence” he was going to the places he said he was, court heard.

“These were all lies, unbeknownst to Mr. Soldouzi,” Justice Rhinelander said in sentencing Soldouzi, who took what should have been a civil matter “into his own hands” and into criminal territory.

Court heard from the target of the extortion scheme, via a victim impact statement read out in court. The threats caused “extreme fear, anxiety and uncertainty” for him and his wife.

Soldouzi, as part of his sentence, must pay $3,100 in restitution for rent the target lost when tenants also fled the home following police warnings. Soldouzi, who has no previous criminal record, voluntarily turned himself in to police and saved trial time by pleading guilty, which were mitigating factors in his favour.

Asked if he had anything to say to the court, Soldouzi said he’d “like to apologize for my actions,” and promised he would do nothing like this again.

Jim Rankin is a Star reporter based in Toronto. Reach him via email: jrankin@thestar.ca