$2.1M being returned to investors who lost 15 times that much in real estate fraud, BCSC says
![Cash Canadian cash is shown. (Shutterstock.com)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2022/9/14/cash-1-6068587-1663188790713.jpg)
Investors who collectively lost millions in a real estate scheme will soon be getting a small portion of their money back, according to the B.C. Securities Commission.
The provincial financial markets regulator said in a news release Thursday that $2.1 million recovered from Siu Mui "Debbie" Wong and Siu Kon "Bonnie" Soo would be distributed to 92 investors who lost money in the sisters' fraud.
According to court-appointed receiver MNP Ltd., victims of the fraud claim to have lost a combined total of roughly $33 million. Wong and Soo were permanently banned from the financial markets and ordered to pay a total of $22 million in penalties after a BCSC panel ruled on their case in 2016.
The dispersal of the recovered funds was approved in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday, the BCSC said.
The penalties against the sisters stem from the acquisition of various tracts of land for development in Alberta, and the sale of shares in those development projects to investors.
The BCSC panel found that Wong and Soo committed fraud by misappropriating $1.2 million of investors' funds, transferring shares to their husbands and adult children without receiving payment in return, "inflating the purchase price of a property and lying about it to investors" and "using mortgage proceeds for purposes other than developing the property."
The sisters also withheld information from one investor about potential delays to the development, and illegally sold shares without a prospectus, according to the BCSC.
The BCSC obtained a freeze order for some of Wong and Soo's assets during its investigation, and it was the sale of those assets by MNP that generated the bulk of the $2.1 million that will now be returned to investors, the regulator said.
"The receiver went to great lengths to gather assets for the benefit of victims of this devastating fraud," said Doug Muir, the BCSC’s director of enforcement, in the news release.
"This case highlights the importance of using our powers under the Securities Act to enforce our financial orders and get money back to victims of investment fraud."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6947088.1719784078!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
More WestJet flight cancellations as strike hits tens of thousands of travellers
WesJet flight cancellations grew to over 800 Sunday afternoon, upending plans for close to 100,000 passengers as an unexpected strike by plane mechanics entered its third day on the busiest travel weekend of the season.
Neighbour on the hook for $3,675 in damages due to ‘nuisance cedar’: B.C. tribunal
A B.C. man who reneged on a deal to split the cost of removing a tree with his next-door neighbour is now on the hook for the whole amount, B.C.’s civil resolution has ruled.
A study identified 6 types of depression. Here’s why that matters
Scientists may be a step closer to that reality, thanks to new research that has identified six subtypes — or 'biotypes' — of major depression via brain imaging combined with machine learning.
Several U.S. military bases in Europe on heightened alert amid possible terrorist threat
Several U.S. military bases across Europe were put on a heightened state of alert over the weekend, with the level of force protection raised to its second-highest state amid concerns that a terrorist attack could target U.S. military personnel or facilities, according to two U.S. officials.
Are you proud to be Canadian? Poll suggests that feeling is dwindling
A new poll suggests the vast majority of Canadians are proud of their home and native land, but our sense of national pride is lower than it was a few years ago.
Nude beach etiquette: Lose your clothes, not your manners
Most of us have felt the freedom and delight that comes with stripping down to a swimsuit on a sunny day and wading into a cool sea, the horizon twinkling in the distance.
She's still busy at 105. What secrets and science are behind Canada's 'super agers'?
There is ongoing research to better understand the relationship between social connection and healthy aging, and why the brains of super agers look different compared with their peers.
Canada Day is forecast to be rainy for many this year. Here's a look at weather and fireworks celebrations
Canada turns 157 years old this year, and several fireworks shows across the country are expected to paint the night skies in celebration. Here's a look at the forecast and fireworks celebrations across the country for Canada Day in 2024.
French voters propel far-right National Rally to strong lead in first-round legislative elections
France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron.