One of Bridging Finance Inc.’s worst-performing loans was advanced to a business partner of Jenny Coco, the private lender’s majority owner, and the debt has languished on Bridging’s books for a decade, The Globe and Mail has learned.
The Globe has also learned that responsibility for the debt changed hands. Initially, the loan to Toronto real estate developer Sam Mizrahi was advanced by a small investment vehicle created by Bridging’s founders, Ms. Coco and Natasha Sharpe. However, it was later assigned to Bridging’s flagship retail investor fund, even though it was at odds with how the retail fund was marketed to investors. Because of the transfer, the fund’s investors are now saddled with the bad debt.
Mr. Mizrahi is currently the driving force behind The One, a long-delayed luxury skyscraper now under construction at the corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets in downtown Toronto. The One, which is backed financially by Ms. Coco, will be one of the tallest dwellings in Canada once it is erected.
