Six years before organizing the famous mad robbery to Cancún, James William Awad was fined for illegally carrying on the activity of stockbroker. He is now at the head of a company with an unusual business model.
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According to the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Mr. Awad raised at least $ 10,000 from seven friends and acquaintances to invest in the stock market, at the end of 2012 and at the beginning of 2013. He was then 19 years old. . At the end of 2015, he was fined $ 2,000.
His company at the time, KJRVS, asked investors, called “members,” to vote on transactions to buy and sell securities. These were carried out for the group through Mr. Awad’s personal brokerage account.
New name
In 2017, the young man, who was then called Kevin Awad, asked the Registrar of Civil Status to change his name to James William, an amendment which came into force in 2019.
Screenshot from Instagram
In the meantime, in 2018, Mr. Awad founded TripleOne, a Montreal firm incorporated in Delaware. On its website, TripleOne describes itself as the “world’s first decentralized company”.
According to an explanatory document available online, TripleOne “users” can suggest new projects to the company and “vote” on those proposed by others. “Users are rewarded for their activity at the end of each month,” it says.
Paying “hack”
To boost TripleOne, articles were published on various more or less well-known websites, embellished with photos of James Awad.
It is said that at the age of 14, Mr. Awad was given a programming mandate for a Mexican bank by pretending he was 28, which would have allowed him to pay the mortgage on the house of his parents for a year. And at 15, thanks to a “hack”, he managed to “generate” virtual coins by playing online, which would have brought him “a lot of money”. His bank would then have closed his account.
James William Awad also controls Prime Corporation International, which is said to be active in IT services and real estate, and the Crusty Crust restaurant in Dollard-des-Ormeaux. Prime Corporation was incorporated in Quebec in 2017, then in Panama in 2019.
Mr. Awad did not respond to requests for information from Journal, Wednesday.
-In collaboration with Olivier Bourque, Julien McEvoy, Francis Pilon, Philippe Langlois and Pascal Dugas-Bourdon
A small real estate empire
Sotheby’s International screenshot
Awad paid $ 1.65 million in cash for this Bois-des-Filion house in 2019.
Awad has purchased 11 properties in Quebec since 2018 for a total of $ 17.3 million. Besides this large sum, two other details strike the imagination: he paid cash for each property and he bought them all through his multiple numbered companies registered in Quebec and Delaware. And it picked up the pace in 2021: 7 of the 11 buildings were purchased in the past 12 months. In Bois-des-Filion, in the Lower Laurentians, Awad has six houses on the same street. Among other things, we find the castle that we see here in mortise, paid $ 1.65 million in September 2019. The other properties are located on the island of Montreal and in Laval. Unusually, it was sometimes Kevin, sometimes James, who represented the companies that bought the buildings.
-Julien McEvoy and Philippe Langlois
James William or Kevin Awad?
When The newspaper asked James William Awad if he had changed his name, the principal concerned denying en bloc. “Kevin? No. Mapele people [sic] senior. Senior or James William Awad, ”he wrote in response to the Messenger application. However, Awad did make an official request for a name change in 2017, then submitted another in 2019 to the Registrar of Civil Status. In the archives, it is written that the name of Kevin Awad has indeed been changed to James William Awad.
-Olivier Bourque, with the participation of Francis Pilon
It was sanctioned by the AMF
Screenshot taken from the Autorité des marchés financiers website
In 2015, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) warned consumers once morest Awad
At not even 20 years old, Awad launches into the investment field, but without having the experience or the training of broker, which attracts the attention of the financial policeman of Quebec —. “Kevin Awad really jumped into the void”, is it written in the documents of court consulted by The newspaper. After an investigation initiated in 2013, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) decides to warn consumers once morest the activities of Awad and his company KJRVS. He is accused of having approached investors without being registered as a broker with the AMF. The Administrative Court of Financial Markets prohibited him “from all transactions in securities”, ordered him to close his websites and imposed a fine of $ 2,000 on him. Contacted by The newspaper, the AMF emphasizes that the penalty was paid and that the file was closed in 2016. The company KJRVS was canceled in 2018.
-Olivier Bourque
Links with a former Impact player
Archive photo, Joël Lemay
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, at Saputo Stadium, in 2019, while playing for CF Montreal. The 28-year-old striker is now a DJ and works for James William Awad’s company.
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, who played seven seasons with CF Montreal, is an “executive agent” of TripleOne, James William Awad’s main business. According to his LinkedIn page, he would have been for almost 3 years. What is less clear is what it is. Jackson-Hamel, who did not answer our calls on Wednesday, is also vice president of another Awad company, Les Placements Wun Wun Wun. The 28-year-old ex-professional athlete hasn’t played in MLS for over a year. Often annoyed by injuries during his career, the striker has still not announced his retirement. But his new projects are clear: he will do in music. Anthony Jackson – Hamel has become Tony Lee on social media, where he can be seen driving turntables in various locations. The new DJ recently flaunted his presence as an artist at a nightclub in Tulum, Mexico, where he is still found … as Awad.
–Julien McEvoy and Philippe Langlois