Promised high returns, families now battle losses and broken trust in wake of HYWI Capital fallout
A promised 24 percent annual return, a trusted referral, and a second mortgage—yet Adnan Siddiky and his wife now face hundreds of thousands in losses, believing they are victims of alleged investment fraud, according to CTV News.
Siddiky, five years from retirement, says he and his wife invested $303,623 with HYWI Capital, a Toronto-based company, after being introduced by family friends.
The couple believed their investment was secure, backed by a contract promising a two per cent monthly return and the full principal returned after a year, reportedly signed by the company’s CEO.
The funds were transferred to Mark Cummings, HYWI Capital’s chief operating officer and a former insurance executive, who, according to Siddiky, assured them there were “no risks” involved.
The couple received two months of payments before the returns abruptly stopped.
When they tried to withdraw their investment, Siddiky says he was told by Cummings and a senior partner, Eugene Todorov, that everything would be resolved and their money would be returned.
That never happened.
CTV News also reports that at least five others have come forward with similar stories, with combined losses of $1.5m, and that the total may be higher.
The man listed as CEO, Vlad Marchuk, claims he left HYWI Capital in April 2023 and that the signature on the Siddikys’ contract is a forgery. Marchuk states he has had no involvement with the company since April 8, 2023.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) confirmed to the Siddikys that neither HYWI Capital nor Cummings are registered to deal in securities in Ontario.
Meanwhile, both Cummings and Todorov are named as defendants in an ongoing civil lawsuit filed by other investors seeking to recover their money.
According to that lawsuit, Todorov was previously charged quasi-criminally with fraud, unregistered trading, illegal distribution, and breaching an OSC order in 2016.
Jeff Filliter, a senior investigator with Haywood Hunt & Associates, told CTV News that the “outrageously high” promised returns and the use of referrals are red flags, suggesting a large-scale operation.
For Siddiky, the financial loss is compounded by a loss of trust.
“Be very careful. I still believe we were pushed into doing something that we were not ready or willing to do by people that we completely trusted,” he said, as reported by CTV News.
