The Latest U.S. Import: Franchise Fraud
February 6, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
Give us your tired, your weak, your franchise scammers and conmen…
[LEFT: Reza Solhi, AKA "Anthony" Solhi]
I admit that prior to this morning the idea of a U.S./Canadian border fence seemed laughable and preposterous. After reading the Taking Your Dough expose and watching the investigative CTV W-5 videos on how convicted Canadian fraudster Reza Solhi (AKA Anthony Solhi) has now brought his infamous franchising practices south of the border, I’m not only for building it, I’d suggest running 20,000 volts or so through it.
The videos, which total about 20 minutes, alternate between heart-wrenching interviews with victims who have lost their life savings to Solhi & his cohorts, to undercover footage showing a franchise salesman in action, pitching Solhi’s Anthony’s Kitchen franchise to a couple in a Chicago hotel lobby, and, separately, the salesman bragging about how he sells dreams to “gullible” franchise prospects for up to $600,000.
What’s wrong America? Aren’t we producing enough of our own franchise and biz-opp scammers? Are we gonna let these Hosers come in and take the caviar from the mouths of our native conmen, charlatans and get-rich-quick masters? Where’s our sense of national pride?
Read all about it:
Taking Your Dough Expose and videos from Canadian TV
Anthony’s Franchise Info: Blog with numerous links to articles, legal judgements and info on Reza Solhi, his associates. According to this site “Solhi has owned and managed the 3 for 1 Pizza franchise chain and in connection with that chain, he was criminally charged with fraud. Subsequently, he started the Pizza One, Pizza Uno and Anthony’s Kitchen franchises under the sole directorship of his mother Ashraf (Ashley) Mirkhan.”
When Gate Keepers Fail at Blue MauMau and at Misleading Advertising Law: Michael Webster is an active blogger and the Canadian attorney representing some of the victims. He was interviewed for the CTV investigative report.
Rip-Off Report 1/3/2007 7:48:40 PM “RezaAnthonys Kitchen – Anothonys Pizza Uno – Pizza One Run By Reza Solhi – Anthony Cheat People Mostly Immigrants By Promising Franchises Which DO NOT EXIST Reza Solhi has robbed many people of their savings by promising nonexistant franchises Toronto Ontario Canada”
Rip-Off Report 12/18/2006 11:09:29 AM “Anthonys Kitchen franchise ripoff AKA PizzaOne, PizzaUno. rip off liars Internet Fraud Reza Solhi, Chris Bassoo, Nigel Mayne, Derek Thomas, Michael Lublin ..they steal your money. ”
Rip-Off Report 9/25/2006 12:14:05 PM “Reza Solhi, Farzad Bagherzadeh, Anthony Mirkhan ripoff pizza franchise Three for One Pizza One Triple Three Pizza Richmond Hill Ontario”
Rip-Off Report 5/27/2006 4:32:11 PM “Anthonys Kitchen, Anothonys Pizza Uno, Pizza One Run By Reza Solhi (aka Anthony) And Family Rip-off money from people in the name of pizza restaurant franchises which never exists or build Thornhill Ontario”
Online Advertisements for the Anthony’s Kitchen franchise:
Anthony’s Kitchen on Franchise Solutions
Anthony’s Pizza Uno on Franchise Gator
Anthony’s Pizza Kitchen on Franchise Marketplace
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH REZA SOLHI, ANTHONY’S KITCHEN OR THE OTHERS MENTIONED IN THIS POST? LEAVE A COMMENT!
I hope the new year puts Solhi behind bars, or even better…deportation!!
Everybody have a great Christmas.
everybody have a great christmas EXCEPT REZA SOLHI. There’s a spot in hell with his name on it just waiting.
I was brought up believing that only the honest, decent people prosper in business & in the community. Am I living in a parallel universe? WTF!?!?!!!
Solhi’s present landlord is trying to evict him alreadyfrom 6767 pacific circle in mississauga. Solhi told one of my contacts ( a health & food inspector ) that Lynn Murphy owns the business (quality food distribution), or 5 star brands distribution & he’s moving the business dec 31. I’ll keep on his ass, and hopefully, I’ll be able to get his new address & pass it on to everyone.
A great christmas gift would be to read in the paper “Local franchise scammer busted & deported”
Merry christmas to all
I guess this is very old now and I’m coming to the party real late, what part did Nigel Mayne play in all this? Is he a trustworthy individual or has he left a wake of destruction?
He worked at anthony’s kitchen, and now started “franchisetactical”. As for his involvement..I have no answer, just that he’s a known associate of solhi’s.
Solhi paid off witnesses with the $500,000.00 from new investors…isn’t that a version of the “Ponzi” scam? Seems like this a-hole, solhi, has carte blanche with the canadian legal system.
Ironically, when I visited solhi to retrieve my machine that he scammed me out of, I hinted that he was a shyster , at which point he went “Rambo” on me. He threw styrofoam products at me, screamed at me to “f… off” threatened me with bodily harm, and told me never to come back or I’d be castrated & would be dead.!!! I wish I had a video of his going crazy on me…I’m 6′4″, 265 lbs (brown belt) while he’s probably 5′3″ and 130 lbs.
what machine did he scam you for blain? I came really close to fighting him myself when I was telling him to pay me. But I realised that despite all the shitty things he’s done, he’s not worth getting a criminal record for.
I hinted that he was a shyster , at which point he went “Rambo” on me. He threw styrofoam products at me…
OMG! Not the deadly styrofoam products…!
Funny story, blain. That would be a good video.
He scammed me out of a piece of office equipment.(which shall remain nameless for anonimity sake. ..even the name “blain” is phoney(for my own protection, you understand?) I just don’t know how much clout this pig has. Even the cops at peel region to back off & not to bother him, not to phone him nor show up at his address to serve him with small claims papers.”Just forget about it, just stay away!!?!?!?!”
WTF!!! The cops at peel regional told me to stay away from Mr. Styrofoam as the law is totally on his side and if I did anything to violate his rights, I’m off to jail….again…WTF?!?!?!?!
pistelero
I agree with you that he’s not worth going to jail over. I believe that “what goes around…comes around”. He’ll pull some shit on a guy, hopefully Tony Soprano, that’ll teach the “pig” a lesson. I’m not done with solhi yet, and I’ll keep you posted with his new address, phone #, & what scam he’s up to lately, and maybe then , with enough disgruntled victims, see justice done. Did you ever show him enough “respect”??? to get paid yet?
Blain,
Nope, I haven’t made any attempt to contact them since Dec, 19th. But my co-worker who also wasn’t paid went to the Peel police station, and the police called Solhi and told him they’ll give him one more chance to pay my co-worker before he get’s lawyers involved. And Solhi basically told the police to F themselves and got into a verbal argument with them over the phone.
The police told my co-worker to try to bring a civil suit against him because he’d most likely win in court.
For me i’m just going to take my two weeks there as a loss. If I get the government involved i’ll stand to lose more than i’ll gain you see. but I’ve learned my lesson and Karmas a bitch and i’m sure Solhi will get what deserves one day.
I’ve been told to forget any debt he owes, the court system’s on his side, and won’t prosecute him .Personally, I believe he’s got some politician or government official in his pocket. How else could this scumbag get away with all this sh_t?!? As far as my contact at Bell found out, so far, solhi’s still on pacific circle 905-670-9119 listed under the name Quality Food Distribution and Lynn’s still at [del]. Lately, I’ve been thinking of a way to scam him & return the $ to his victims. Sorry you didn’t get paid for your work.
Recently, I spoke to a criminal attorney about solhi & the cop’s refusal to get involved to charge him. He told me to demand that the cops go after him & charge him with theft & fraud. The cops told me to buzz off, chill out, & forget about him & his debt. Michael Webster was right when he said witnesses were paid off and now the cops wont get involved because of fear of being embarrassed. Makes me feel ill what the scumbag can get away with.
I’m pretty sure he’s paying people off to stay afloat. I remember one time when the ministry of labour came, they were giving him shit for various infractions, they put tags on the forklift because of an expired inspection. He had a word with them in his office and them he came back to the warehouse and ripped off the tags. and he mumbled something about it costing him $100,000. not exactly sure what happened but I thought it was strange.
Pistelero
Do you know where solhi lives? If yes, reply that you do, and I’ll figure out a way to contact you..but not on this site. I keep getting yelled at for leaving personal info.
is this site still active?
hello…where is everybody?
am I banned?
blain asked: am I banned?
blain: I’m confident that Solhi’s a disreputable guy.
However, I have a feeling that being told to buzz off, chill out and go away is not a rare occurence in your life.
I’m a pretty mellow guy, but having to constantly explain to you that you can’t post addresses & phone numbers here makes me want to pelt you with styrofoam products. Please take some quiet time to reflect on why you may provoke that feeling in others, and how you might become styrofoam-free in 2009.
I, in turn, am willing to reconsider the policy. Please post your full name, home address, cell phone & license plate number, and email address in your next comment and we’ll give it a try.
Paul,
Nigel Mayne started creating a path of destruction decades ago, and probably taught Reza everything he knows.
I wish your rules were consistent. Check out other posts above (not only mine) and you’ll see others have posted addresses, info & #’s for Solhi.
I’m Blain Gordon
[Contact info deleted per site policies.]
I wish your rules were consistent.
Blain, I’ve got 5 kids… I appreciate the offer, but I really don’t need another.
Let me tell you what I tell them: If you want to set your own rules, that’s cool. Get your own place and go for it.
I highly recommend Blogger or Wordpress. In 5 minutes, your dedicated Solhi locater blog will be up and running, broadcasting 24/7.
Nigel Mayne started creating a path of destruction decades ago, and probably taught Reza everything he knows.
Adam’s Rib:
Is this the Same Nigel Mayne that was part of WSI and Matchpoint?
Yes, the same Nigel that was part of WSI, Worldsites, MatchPoint Network, World Internet Corp., Canadian Employment Network Inc., The Employment Network (in the U.S.), Diamond Destinies International, Northern Destinies Inc., Franchise Tactical, Anthony’s Kitchen, … the list goes on.
michael webster.. call me….you know my cell blain in mississauga
Mr. Reza Solhi’s business is now located at 1880 Bonhill Road in Mississauga. and plans to boogie next door if anything gets too crazy. He has already prepared for fleeing but instead will travel next door
I was good friends with his management staff when he started all this shit. Did you guys know that his son is realy not his. The guy in his personal website pictures holding the pizza boxes is the real father.