Body found in Montreal park identified as cryptocurrency influencer
The body of a man that was found in a park in Montreal's Ahunstic-Cartierville borough last month has been identified.
Provincial police (SQ) confirmed it was 24-year-old Kevin Mirshahi, a cryptocurrency influencer.
The SQ did not release further details about the case, but said their investigation is ongoing. His death is being investigated as Montreal's 32nd homicide of 2024.
The body was found by a passerby at the l’Île-de-la-Visitation nature park at around 10 a.m. on Oct. 30. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was reportedly one of four people who were kidnapped from a condo building in Old Montreal last June.
A source told CTV News at the time that a torched vehicle that was found hours later in Laval was possibly connected to the kidnapping.
Police later found three of the four missing people, but one was still outstanding.
Woman faces first-degree murder charge
Police arrested and charged a woman in connection with his death last August. Joanie Lepage, 32, is facing charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping.
According to a warrant for her arrest, police believe Mirshahi was killed on the day of the kidnapping, June 21.
Lepage is also accused of being an accessory after the fact to the murder, and faces charges for the other three kidnappings. Her next court date is scheduled for Dec. 4.
Public records show that Mirshahi was the subject of an investigation by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the regulatory body that oversees the financial sector in Quebec.
In 2021, the AMF's administrative tribunal issued a blocking order "prohibiting the exercise of any activity as a broker or investment advisor" and orders "prohibiting transactions in securities," for Mirshahi, two other individuals, and a company. The order was imposed "in the public interest" for 12 months and renewed again on July 4, 2024, for another year.
The 2021 tribunal decision described Mirshahi as the owner and operator "of a private paid Telegram group called Crypto Paradise Island."
As part of the decision, Mirshahi and the other defendants were banned from "carrying out any brokerage or investment advisor activities, including any promotion or canvassing in connection with the MRS, directly or indirectly, via the Internet or otherwise, in particular on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Donald Trump picks former U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated former diplomat and U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra to be the American ambassador to Canada.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.
This is how much money you need to make to buy a house in Canada's largest cities
The average salary needed to buy a home keeps inching down in cities across Canada, according to the latest data.
'My two daughters were sleeping': London Ont. family in shock after their home riddled with gunfire
A London father and son they’re shocked and confused after their home was riddled with bullets while young children were sleeping inside.
Smuggler arrested with 300 tarantulas strapped to his body
Police in Peru have arrested a man caught trying to leave the country with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants strapped to his body.
Boissonnault out of cabinet to 'focus on clearing the allegations,' Trudeau announces
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced embattled minister Randy Boissonnault is out of cabinet.
Baby dies after being reported missing in midtown Toronto: police
A four-month-old baby is dead after what Toronto police are calling a “suspicious incident” at a Toronto Community Housing building in the city’s midtown area on Wednesday afternoon.
Sask. woman who refused to provide breath sample did not break the law, court finds
A Saskatchewan woman who refused to provide a breath sample after being stopped by police in Regina did not break the law – as the officer's request was deemed not lawful given the circumstances.
Parole board reverses decision and will allow families of Paul Bernardo's victims to attend upcoming parole hearing in person
The families of the victims of Paul Bernardo will be allowed to attend the serial killer’s upcoming parole hearing in person, the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) says.