A Toronto lawyer who launched a high-profile lawsuit on behalf of investors in the Trump International Hotel & Tower has left the country in the wake of allegations that “well in excess” of $3 million in trust funds is missing.

Litigator Javad Heydary, 49, was last heard from Nov. 15 when he told colleagues he had to return to his native Iran to tend to a sick relative.

The Law Society of Upper Canada alleges in a court filing this week that Heydary is being investigated for “misappropriation, mishandling trust funds, and failing to comply with a court order.”

In the face of the recent resignation of a number of well-respected lawyers from some half dozen boutique firms that Heydary ran in the heart of the financial district, the Law Society has taken over as trustee of the businesses.

It is a rare move for the Law Society, which obtained 20 court-approved trusteeships last year, nearly double the 11 it obtained in 2011 and 12 it obtained in 2010. A significant number usually involve moving to take over operation of a firm if a lawyer has died or become incapacitated.

“Heydary’s business is large, spans several practice areas, and the abandonment or partial abandonment of the various operations has serious implications for innumerable clients whose interests may not be protected,” the society says in a 50-page court filing.

While Law Society officials and auditors are looking at all of Heydary’s firms — Heydary Hamilton Professional Corp., Heydary Elliott, Heydary Green, Heydary Hayes and Heydary Samuel — most of the focus is on the 15-member commercial litigation firm Heydary Hamilton, said a source close to the situation.

That firm spearheaded the more than $40-million lawsuit against Toronto’s Trump hotel on behalf of investors in some 25 hotel/condo units who claim they were victims of “an investment scheme and conspiracy.”

That case, and others which Heydary largely took on a pro bono or contingency basis, may actually have contributed to the financial problems at the firm because too many clients weren’t expected to cover their legal costs until lawsuits were settled, sometimes after years of costly legal work, says one person close to an investigation he describes as “shocking.”

“If you do too much of that, it’s not good for the cash flow of the company,” he added.

The financial problems came to light earlier this month, after Heydary Hamilton had been sent “a series of orders and endorsements” asking the firm to deliver $2.1 million of a $3.6-million settlement it was supposed to have been holding in trust for a couple since last April, according to the Law Society affidavit.

The couple had received a total $5.1 million in a settlement with a former business partner last February, some of which had already been handed over by Heydary Hamilton, said their lawyer, Ray Thapar.

But by October, the couple had hired Thapar, a commercial litigator, concerned that Heydary Hamilton wasn’t handing over more of their money when requested.

By Nov. 15, a court ordered that the firm produce a certified cheque for $2.1 million plus interest, as well as “written independent confirmation” of the remaining $1.5 million plus interest, and scheduled a contempt hearing for Nov. 20.

According to the Law Society affidavit, Heydary Hamilton had just $319,067.82 in trust as of Nov. 21, meaning the trust fund shortage is “well in excess of $3 million.”

Heydary, the father of four young children, is believed to have left for Abu Dhabi and then Iran the night of Nov. 15. A source told the Star Heydary’s wife has since been in touch with the firm, and even dropped in this week, to say her husband died on the weekend.

The Star has not been able to reach the wife or verify this fact.

A red Volvo with the vanity plate “Red Seal” was parked in the driveway of the couple’s brick Forest Hill Rd. home Wednesday. A woman who answered the door and identified herself as “a guest” said Heydary and his wife weren’t home.

A diminutive man with a larger-than-life personality, Heydary was celebrated earlier this month on the cover of the Law Times as an innovator who built a business — many of them, in fact, including Red Seal Notary — on personal branding and small, boutique-style client service.

He’s the kind of guy who would regularly stop to chat and give money to the homeless person outside his office, even asking one of his legal staff to take on the man’s case when he was charged with panhandling.

Yet, in the midst of what had to be mounting financial challenges at the firm, he would take out a loan earlier this year for a Mercedes.

It was only this week that stunned colleagues in his upscale offices in the Toronto-Dominion Centre discovered that Heydary rents, rather than owns, his Forest Hill Rd. home.

Many of Heydary’s shell-shocked colleagues — most of whom have only worked at the various firms just a year or two — were in the offices Wednesday, sending out emails to clients.

The notes alerted them that the company is in trusteeship but that client work will continue as best as possible while the investigation is ongoing.

One lawyer acknowledged that the Trump case may eventually require partnering with another firm to ensure that investors are best represented going forward. In the meantime, Heydary Hamilton lawyers are contacting Trump clients to advise them of the situation and determine if they want to stay with the firm, with or without another firm’s involvement, or hire a new lawyer.

Douglas Elliott, a lawyer in litigation practice with Heydary Elliott, said in an email that “the problems appear to be associated with activities unrelated to my practice. I have been advised of no problems with the accounts of Heydary Elliott PC.

“I have been co-operating fully with the Law Society. In the meantime, I will continue to provide exemplary service to my clients, as I have been doing for almost 30 years.”

With files from Betsy Powell