CORRECTION NOTICE
An article published on April 17, 2026, titled “Deloitte partners hit with major fines, sanctions over failed Bondfield audits” contained several factual errors regarding the scope of professional disciplinary findings and the history of related regulatory proceedings.
- Audit Findings: The article incorrectly stated that CPA Ontario found the auditors failed to detect a “massive fraud.” In fact, the tribunal’s findings focused on breaches of professional auditing standards, including a failure to exercise due care and professional skepticism. While the reasons for decision referenced a fraud allegation, it was cited as a summary of separate civil proceedings, not as a finding of fact by the CPA Ontario panel.
- Entity Accuracy: The article referred to “Forman International Ltd.” This entity was not a subject of the CPA Ontario reasons for decision. The Bondfield affiliate involved in relevant restructuring proceedings is Forma-Con Construction.
- Regulatory Conflation: The article incorrectly linked Deloitte partners Trevor Nakka and Jo-Anne Gignac to the Bondfield audits and CPAB sanctions. Mr. Nakka did not work on the Bondfield audit and has not been sanctioned by CPAB. Ms. Gignac is not a Deloitte employee. Furthermore, a $1.59-million settlement between Deloitte and CPA Ontario in 2023 was related to a separate, unrelated matter regarding the backdating of audit documents and was not connected to the Bondfield fraud allegations.
Ontario Construction News regrets these errors and the confusion they may have caused. The corrected version of the story appears below.
Ontario Construction News Staff Writer
Two partners at Deloitte LLP have been ordered to pay significant fines and costs by a Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPAO) discipline committee for professional misconduct related to their audits of Bondfield Construction Company Limited.
In a decision effective Feb. 12, 2026, the tribunal ordered Felice Iorio to pay a fine of $100,000 and $345,000 in costs. Steve Kostich was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and $313,900 in costs. The proceedings focused on the partners’ work on the 2013 through 2016 audits of the now-insolvent construction firm.
The panel found that the partners failed to perform their duties with due care and failed to maintain sufficient professional skepticism. Under CPA Ontario rules, if the fines and costs are not paid within 90 days, the partners’ memberships in the provincial regulatory body will be revoked.
The disciplinary findings centered on the auditors’ failure to comply with professional standards during their engagements. According to the reasons for decision, when Mr. Iorio accepted the Bondfield engagement in 2014, he failed to take sufficient steps to address audit risks and allegations raised by a predecessor auditor.
The tribunal determined that both Iorio (lead partner for the 2013 and 2014 audits) and Kostich (lead partner for the 2015 and 2016 audits) failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to reduce audit risk to an acceptably low level.
While the Bondfield collapse has been marked by allegations in civil court of a significant false-invoicing scheme, the CPA Ontario decision was strictly focused on the auditors’ failure to follow required protocols—such as properly planning the audits and making sufficient enquiries of management—rather than a finding that the auditors were complicit in or failed to detect a specific fraud.
The disciplinary outcome arrives as the legal fallout from Bondfield’s 2019 collapse continues. In October 2025, former Bondfield president John Aquino was convicted in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on two counts of fraud over $5,000. The charges were related to the procurement process for the St. Michael’s Hospital redevelopment project, a major Bondfield contract. In February 2026, Mr. Aquino was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Additionally, a 2024 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Aquino v. Bondfield Construction Co. established that Mr. Aquino’s fraudulent intent could be attributed to the corporation, a landmark decision that allowed bankruptcy monitors to pursue the recovery of diverted funds for creditors.
Prior settlements
In 2023, Deloitte settled a separate, unrelated disciplinary matter with CPA Ontario for $1.59 million. That case concerned the manual backdating of audit working papers by several practitioners across at least 39 different engagements between 2016 and 2018. That settlement was related to internal quality control failures and was not connected to the Bondfield audits or the criminal activities of Bondfield’s former leadership.
Deloitte has stated that it has since implemented enhanced quality control processes and mandatory training to ensure compliance with national auditing standards.
With files from CPA Ontario Disciplinary Records and Ontario Superior Court filings.
