Four Richmondites on trial for allegedly falsifying immigration information for 67 people

BCSC bans sisters for fraud and illegal distributions, orders repayment of almost $10m

By Emma Crawford | March 1, 2017, 10:25am

Siu Mui “Debbie” Wong and Siu Kon “Bonnie” Soo, sisters and residents of British Columbia, have been permanently banned from trading or purchasing securities in the province and have been ordered to repay almost $10 million in funds they misappropriated from investors in two separate projects.

The sisters and Wheatland Industrial Park, a joint venture Wong and Soo created to buy and develop land in Wheatland, Alberta, were found in June 2016 to have illegally distributed securities in the project. The sisters committed fraud when they transferred several units of the JV to their adult children and husbands without obtaining investor approval.

The sisters, along with 1300302 Alberta Inc. and D&E Arctic—two companies they set up relating to the Wheatland project—have been ordered to repay $3,890,000, jointly and severally. Wong and Soo alone have been ordered to repay an additional $5,967,850, for a total amount of $9,857,850.

“Investors testified as to their mental anguish and increased financial burdens,” the BCSC panel wrote in its decision.

“They have suffered those harms even if they later recoup their investments, for which there is no evidence to suggest that it is a possibility.”

The pair was also found guilty of committing multiple acts of fraud in a separate project, located in Rocky View, Alberta. They inflated the purchase price and lied to investors about this, and then they withheld pertinent information about the completion date of the project.

The panel did not ban Wheatland from trading in securities, as it is no longer controlled by either Wong or Soo.

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Victims defrauded by B.C. sisters to get $2M back

Richmond’s Siu Kon “Bonnie” Soo and Surrey’s Siu Mui “Debbie” Wong had misappropriated investment funds and were ordered to repay $10M Vikki Hui   Jun 21, 2023 2:59 PM

Victims of two B.C. sisters, who carried out a land development scam in Alberta, are getting around $2 million of lost investment back. The sisters — Siu Mui “Debbie” Wong and Siu Kon “Bonnie” Soo — had set up a joint venture to buy and develop land in Wheatland, Alberta.

According to court documents, Soo and Wong’s last known addresses are in Richmond and Surrey respectively.

They were found guilty of fraud by a B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) panel in 2016.

They had misappropriated $1.2 million from investors, transferred units of the joint venture to their husbands and adult children at no cost and used mortgage proceeds for purposes unrelated to developing the property.

They were also found to have committed fraud in another project where they inflated the purchase price of a property and lied about it to the investors.

A receiver, MNP Ltd., was appointed by the B.C. Supreme Court in 2019 to recover assets for the investors.

Since then, it has obtained funds from accounts and taken control of and sold the properties frozen by BCSC.

Sale proceeds from the properties belonging to the sisters and their companies make up most of the $2 million being returned to the victims.

Each victim will get a pro-rated share based on the money they lost, minus the fee for the receiver.

Investors wishing to learn about the claims process can visit MNP’s website.

The two companies they set up relating to the project, 1300302 Alberta Inc. and D&E Arctic, along with Wheatland Industrial Park, were also implicated and found, along with the sisters, to have illegally distributed securities by selling shares without a prospectus.

The BCSC imposed $22 million in financial sanctions on the sisters and their companies. The sisters are also permanently banned from trading in securities in B.C.

The sisters, along with 1300302 Alberta Inc. and D&E Arctic, were ordered to repay a total amount of $9,857,850.

Some victims have filed civil claims against the sisters and their companies.

– With files from Emma Crawford 

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Four Richmondites on trial for allegedly falsifying immigration information for 67 people

A business immigration program in the Yukon was allegedly the target of a Richmond-based scheme.

Maria Rantanen， Jun 27, 2022 4:49 PM

A trial for four Richmond residents accused of submitting false immigration documents that misrepresented 67 people and of bribing a Yukon government official launched this week and is scheduled to continue until July 15.

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Following a five-year investigation called Project Husky, charges were laid in December 2020 against Tzu Chun Joyce Chang, 49; Qiong Joan Gu, 66; Aillison Shaunt Liu (also known as Allison Shaunt Liu), 31; and Shouzhi Stanley Guo, 38.