New court filings in a $28.5-million lawsuit against the City of Brampton shed light on dealings between former mayor Susan Fennell and two brothers whose GTA construction empire was part of the winning bid for a half-billion-dollar downtown development project.

The documents, which include emails the court ordered the city to release, reveal details of communications between Fennell and developers Nick and Mario Cortellucci, principals of Fernbrook — a company that was part of the winning bid team Fennell lobbied council to support. Since the 1970s, the Cortelluccis have emerged as two of southern Ontario’s most prominent developers.

The lawsuit — launched five years ago by Inzola, a local developer who was disqualified from the bidding — alleges that senior staff, along with Fennell, were biased in favour of the eventual winning bid team that included Fernbrook and Dominus Construction, which has led to a deal that is “now wasting tens of millions of taxpayers’ dollars,” according to the statement of claim.

The city denies the allegations, which haven’t been proven in court and which the city described in a statement of defence as an attempt at “tarring” Fennell’s reputation.

There are no allegations in the suit against Nick or Mario Cortellucci, or anyone else associated with the winning bid team.

The allegations of bias on the part of senior staff and the former mayor have left city hall, in the words of current Mayor Linda Jeffrey, “paralyzed.” Last year Jeffrey called for a provincial inquiry into the project to find out if procurement rules designed to protect taxpayers were violated in one of the largest deals in Brampton’s history.

The complex case has involved multiple court orders forcing the city to turn over evidence. The court filings, including thousands of pages of emails and other documents, and dozens of hours of pre-trial testimony, offer seldom-seen insights into a project of this scale.

Fennell, who was voted out of office in a landslide 2014 defeat, said in pre-trial testimony in June that she never communicated or had dealings with the Cortelluccis before council’s final vote in August 2011 that awarded their bid team the $500-million project. She testifed she may have attended the same social events as Nick Cortellucci, but that she never spoke to the brothers about any development deal they were involved in.

Emails filed recently with the court show Fennell communicated with Nick Cortellucci prior to the bidding period, and apparently had plans to meet Mario Cortellucci weeks before the final council vote, when rules forbidding communications between the bidders and representatives of the city were in place to avoid interference in the selection process. It’s unclear if a meeting took place.

The emails raise questions about whether Fennell solicited contributions to her private fundraising events from the brothers and the plaintiff in the lawsuit, when bidding rules forbade developers from exercising any kind of financial influence over members of council.

Fennell’s lawyer said in an email there is no evidence the former mayor solicited contributions from bidders to her private events during the bidding process.

The lawyer said that Fennell’s understanding is that the Cortelluccis have never been principals of any company associated with the winning bid team. A trancript of a 2011 council meeting filed in court shows councillors were told Fernbrook was part of the team at the time, and a report to council the same year referenced in the city’s statement of defence suggests the former mayor knew Nick Cortellucci controlled the company.

In the past few decades, Nick and Mario Cortellucci have amassed a group of companies — including Four Valleys, Pristine Homes and Zancor, to name a few — that have built thousands of homes and highrise buildings across the region.

According to Ontario corporate profile reports, Nick is a director of Fernbrook while Mario is president of the Cortellucci Group of Companies Inc. In a recorded 2012 interview for an article in the Star’s Homes & Condos section, Mario Cortellucci said Fernbrook is one of the subsidiary companies that is part of the family business he controls. He described Fernbrook and the other subsidiaries as “all family and some outside people.”

Over the years, Mario Cortellucci’s work as a developer has led to his increased profile. He has received awards for philanthropy and been given an honorary degree by the Pontifical Institute in Mediaeval Studies, an institution affiliated with the University of Toronto. In 2002 he was awarded the province's highest official honour, the Order of Ontario.

Mario Cortellucci told the Star and Guardian he has no day-to-day involvement with either Dominus or Fernbrook, and that he never met Fennell to discuss the downtown development deal. Nick Cortellucci said in an interview that he knew Susan Fennell when she was mayor but “never met with” her and had “nothing to do with” the $500 million deal. He said he “probably” contributed money to Fennell’s private fundraising events and that he does so “legally” to many similar events.

In recent weeks, thousands of pages of testimony and emails have been filed by Inzola, the plaintiff in the case, for a motion brought forward by the city earlier this year to have the lawsuit dismissed. The city contends Inzola was fairly disqualified from the bidding. To argue against the city’s motion, Inzola summoned nine people connected to the $500-million deal to testify, including Fennell and some current city councillors.

In her testimony in June, Fennell said she was aware of a “no contact” rule in place between October 2009 and August 2011, which forbade any communication between bidders and members of council to avoid influencing the selection process.

A portion of her testimony focused on Nick and Mario Cortellucci. According to a transcript, the plaintiff’s lawyer asked Fennell if she had ever communicated with the brothers before the final vote:

“I am asking you whether those two people . . . Nick Cortellucci, Mario Cortellucci . . . whether you had met or had any discussions with them in writing, in person, via telephone, prior to, say, August 10, 2011?”

Fennell responded, “No.”

Lawyer David Chernos continued his line of questioning.

“Had you either personally or as mayor and through the city, done business with them previously?”

“No,” she replied.

The plaintiff recently filed documents with the court that include:

An email from May 5, 2009, months before the “no contact” rules were in place, from Fennell’s city account addressed to Nick Cortellucci.

“Hi Nick . . . July is fast approaching and I wanted to personally touch base and request the support of Four Valleys for my 2009 Golf Classic . . . May I request that you consider a silver sponsorship (as last year $12,500),” Fennell wrote.

A 2007 memo from a former member of Fennell’s city hall staff that has the subject line: “3:00 pm Meeting\Coffee with Mario Cortellucci (to discuss Future Development).” Next to “meeting status,” the memo says “accepted.” Next to “organizer,” it states “Fennell, Susan Mayor.” Next to “contact,” it states “Mario Cortellucci” with two phone numbers next to his name.

An email reply from Fennell’s city account on June 27, 2011, about six weeks prior to the final council vote that approved Dominus and Fernbrook as the winning bid team. Fennell received a request from a Brampton planning consultant seeking her help to arrange a meeting between Mario Cortellucci and another council member for early July 2011, under the subject line “Mario Cortellucci — Luncheon Meeting Request.”

According to the email chain included in the court documents, Fennell replied that she didn’t know if the other councillor was available in July, adding: “The discussion with Mario and myself is currently being scheduled.”

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It’s unclear if a meeting with Fennell and Mario Cortellucci ever took place. The developer said in an email to the Star and Guardian, “I can advise unequivocally that I never requested a meeting, was never requested to attend a meeting, never scheduled a meeting and never attended a meeting with the former mayor” about the downtown development project.

In an email to the Star and Guardian, Fennell’s lawyer, David Shiller, said the former mayor had no communication at all with any principal of the winning bid team during the “no contact” period.

An email from June 25, 2010, in the middle of the “no contact” period, from Fennell to her former city hall assistant with the subject line “Golf,” asking for a list of people who have contributed to her annual private golf tournament.

Fennell’s assistant responded with a list that names “Four-Valleys” as a “Hole Sponsor” for the event.

In a phone interview, Nick Cortellucci said he “probably” sponsored a hole for Fennell’s 2010 event.

In an email to the Star and Guardian, Fennell’s lawyer said that “it appears that Four Valleys may have sponsored” the tournament in 2009 and 2010, as well as her gala in 2009, but that the company was not directly linked to the winning bid team. He said Fennell was never told Nick or Mario Cortellucci were part of the winning bid team and “to this day (Fennell) understands that neither was ever a principal of any party involved with a bid.”

An email dated Jan. 21, 2010, in the middle of the “no contact” period, that includes a list of sponsors for the annual private gala Fennell ran in her name. The subject of the email from Fennell’s assistant is “Update-Gala.” Next to the name “Four Valleys,” under the list of potential sponsors for the 2010 gala, is written: “MF to call.” Her staff commonly used MF as an acronym for Mayor Fennell. The list shows all sponsors and donation amounts from the previous year, indicating Four Valleys had purchased one table and also contributed a $50,000 sponsorship to the gala in 2009. It also indicated that Inzola, the plaintiff in the case, had purchased one table in 2009, and one in 2010 during the “no contact” period.

Nick Cortellucci said he also “probably” contributed to the gala in 2010.

When asked about the 2010 payment, Inzola principal John Cutruzzola referred to previous statements he made to the Star, that once he found out Fennell’s gala was not a registered charity and had not provided financial statements to show how the gala donations were being used, he stopped contributing.

In an email, Fennell’s lawyer said there is no evidence the former mayor “solicited any funds for the golf classic in 2010 or the gala in 2009 or 2010.”

A transcript of a March 28, 2011 council meeting that Fennell chaired, when Dominus and Fernbrook were provisionally selected for the deal before the final vote later in the year. The transcript shows the city treasurer told council Fernbrook was part of the winning bid team. Fernbrook was mentioned 15 more times in connection with the winning bid team.

The meeting transcript also shows that resident Chris Bejnar said in a presentation to council that the Cortellucci family started Fernbrook “30 years ago” and that he was concerned because “principals” of the bid group had been donating funds to Fennell. Bejnar said that “Funds for campaigns, galas, charitable events, in my opinion should not have been asked for or received . . . while we have this (bid process) still outstanding.”

The city’s statement of defence in response to the lawsuit refers to a 2011 integrity commissioner’s report to council. That report includes a statement that Fernbrook was part of the “consortium” that submitted the winning bid. The commissioner’s report said that Fennell “believes that as a matter of general information and knowledge, ‘Nick Cortellucci’ controls Fernbrook Homes but she has no direct knowledge of this.”

The three-phase $500 million downtown development deal was to be one of the biggest projects in Brampton’s history. In recent years the project has been mired in controversy and only the $205 million first-phase, a city hall expansion, has gone forward.

Some of the 2,700 pages of documents filed recently with the court reveal council’s actions in the months before it awarded the contract.

In March 2011, city staff released a report that made public their selection of Dominus and Fernbrook as the winning bid team.

“Report is brilliant,” Fennell wrote the next day, March 22, 2011, to then-councillor Sandra Hames, in an email chain filed with the court.

“I really need our group to make this move forward,” Fennell wrote in a subsequent email in the chain.

That was followed by another, with Fennell writing, “We really can support the staff recommendation . . . it puts us together with Dominus Group.”

On March 28, 2011, council voted to approve staff’s selection. Five months later, council gave its final approval in a 6-5 decision, with Fennell again casting a vote in support of the deal.

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