For the first time since the Crown announced it would be proceeding by direct indictment involving 13 people charged in relation to the Project South investigation, prosecutors and lawyers for the accused appeared in Superior Court to discuss progress with the case.
A direct indictment means there will be no preliminary hearing and the case will move directly to trial.
Samuel Walker, the lead counsel for the Justice Prosecutions Unit for the Ministry of the Attorney General, told Superior Court Justice Catherine H. Rhinelander in court Tuesday that there are now eight indictments before the court, including one federal indictment.
Walker told court that of the 13, there are seven current or former Toronto police officers named in the indictments. One former Toronto constable, Derek McCormick, pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice on Tuesday.
“We are approximately six months out since the arrests; Feb. 4, 2026, was takedown day,” said Walker. “All relate to the same investigation and the same wiretap investigation. The majority of the disclosure in the Crown’s estimation is complete.”
In February, York Regional Police announced the arrest of 27 people in a sweeping police corruption and organized crime investigation dubbed Project South.
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The investigation began when a senior corrections manager’s home was shot at in Vaughan in June 2025.
It is alleged that Const. Timothy Barnhardt, the so-called “genesis” of the corruption probe, unlawfully accessed confidential information about the manager and released the information to Brian Da Costa and other members of the criminal organization.
“Police found evidence of numerous unlawful queries alleged to be conducted by Constable Barnhardt and other officers within the Toronto Police Service,” said a news release at the time.
“In multiple cases, investigators determined the addresses returned by the unlawful queries were later the location of criminal incidents, including an extortion, commercial robberies and shootings. Investigators allege that the confidential information gleaned from the queries was shared with Brian Da Costa, Elwyn Satanowsky and others, who police believe are known to various criminal networks.”
Barnhardt, who appeared in court Tuesday from the Central East Detention Centre wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, is also facing drug charges. Da Costa appeared in court via Zoom from the Centre North Detention Centre. The other 11 accused did not appear and were represented by their lawyers.
Walker told Rhinelander that there were in excess of 50 Information to Obtain (ITOs) or sworn documents used to obtain search warrants in this case, which have all been disclosed, including the takedown warrant.
He suggested that there will likely be pre-trial motions in this case involving multiple accused who have issues in common.
Walker said, for example, there will likely be challenges to wiretaps.
“We expect more than one accused to bring this matter,” he said. “It should be brought before a single judge.”
The court also heard that York Regional Police, which led the investigation, did a synopsis of the investigation which is in excess of 700 pages.
“It is a dense document, an overview of the entire project,” the court heard.
Walker also told Rhinelander that in the process of bringing direct indictments on the 13 accused, there has been a “consolidation and simplifying of charges” but said the Crown’s factual theories and allegations have not changed.
The case will return to court on Sept. 18.
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