Immigration consultant accused of defrauding clients of $6.9M

A Vancouver immigration consultant defrauded Chinese immigrants of $6.9 million that he used for personal expenses including renting luxury cars and paying his credit card bills, the British Columbia Securities Commission has alleged.

In a notice of hearing posted on Monday, the commission alleged that Paul Oei — a businessman featured in articles about Chinese investors in Vancouver by the New York Times and The New Yorker — used a number of companies to “perpetrate a fraudulent scheme” involving 64 investments that raised a total of $13.3 million.

The fraud allegations have not been proven, the commission notice states. And, in a response to a sepa- rate, but related, lawsuit filed by two people who allege they lost money, Oei and wife Loretta Lai say they have not been “unjustly enriched” in the deal and they “deny any conspiracy to defraud the plaintiffs.”

According to the commission’s notice, Oei raised investor startup funds for Cascade Renewable, a proposed Abbotsford recycling plant, between July 2009 and No- vember 2012. “In 2009, Cascade management agreed with Oei that he would use his contacts in the Chinese community to raise money for Cascade to build a recycling facility,” the notice says.

But “of the $13.3 million raised from the Cascade investors, Oei forwarded less than $6.4 million to Cascade,” the notice alleges.

“He used the remaining approximately $6.9 million on expenses unrelated to Cascade, including transfers to his personal bank accounts, cash withdrawals, credit card payments, luxury car rentals, donations to charities and payment of expenses of his immigration and insurance businesses.”

The commission notice alleges Oei used bank accounts for his insurance and immigration company, Canadian Manu Immigration and Financial Services Inc., to receive funds from Cascade investors. And he used the numbered companies 0863220 B.C. Ltd. and 0905701 B.C. Ltd. to issue documents, “which purportedly entitled investors to Cascade shares.”

Dates for a B.C. Securities Commission hearing will be set in November.

Attempts to reach Oei through Canadian Manu and through his lawyer were unsuccessful.

In the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, a Vancouver couple, Wei Chen and Junping Zhang, allege they were defrauded by defendants including Canadian Manu Immigration, Cascade Renewable, Oei and Lai, and 0905701 B.C. Ltd.

Their claim alleges Chen and Zhang purchased automobile, home and life insurance from Lai in 2011. Oei and Lai then recommended Chen and Zhang purchase $1 million worth of preferred shares in the Cascade organic fertilizing plant investment, according to the claim.

The defendants led them to believe “there was no risk investing in the (Cascade) project, which was largely supported by the B.C. government,” the plaintiffs’ claim states. “Crude material for the (Cascade) recycling plant would be provided by the B.C. government … and the government would pay refuse disposal fees.”

In their response, Oei and Lai deny they said“the B.C. government would necessarily support (Cascade).”

Chen and Zhang took out a mortgage against their Vancouver home to pay $1 million into a legal trust to invest in Cascade shares, the claim alleges, but the funds did not go to Cascade. “Oei and Lai used the trust funds for personal purposes,” the lawsuit alleges.

Oei’s lawyer, Tim Louman-Gardiner, did not return a call for comment on this story.

In her Facebook profile, Lai describes herself as a “director at Canadian Manu Investment Group.”

Oei and Lai maintain an active social profile among wealthy Chinese immigrants in Vancouver and political fundraising circles revolving around B.C. Liberals in Richmond.

For example, Richmond-Steveston B.C. Liberal MLA John Yap has posted photos on Facebook of himself, Oei and Lai, and other fundraisers and investors mingling at a Liberal event in Richmond.

B.C. debt security documents show that in total, Lai and Oei have loans on six luxury vehicles, including five BMWs and a 2016 Aston Martin DB9.

Five of the vehicle loans are in Lai’s name, and a 2014 BMW 335i xDrive is owned jointly by the couple, documents show.

Lai and Oei own four properties in B.C., title documents show, including a Point Grey property assessed at $2.5 million, and condos in Surrey, Port Moody and Chilliwack worth about $1.5 million in total.

In an article about so-called fuerdai — the super-rich children of Chinese magnates, who are now living the high life in Vancouver — The New Yorker profiled Oei and his investor connections. The story reported that in introducing himself to a reporter, Oei presented three business cards, including two for companies named in the B.C. Securities Commission fraud allegations — Organic Eco-Centre Corp. and Canadian Manu Immigration and Financial Services.

“Manu, which Oei founded a decade ago, provides advice on immigration strategies, investments, and assimilation for Chinese nationals moving abroad,” The New Yorker reported.

“For fuerdai seeking to establish themselves in Vancouver, he is the go-to fixer and an unofficial ambassador.”

According to The New Yorker, Oei said his clients represent the class “between the one and two per cent” of the most wealthy in China, not the very top.

“The tippy top of the pyramid have political backing or connections,” Oei was quoted as saying in the article. “They don’t need to export the wealth.”

And a recent New York Times story reported anecdotes of Oei and Lai and several fuerdai visiting a Lamborghini dealership in Vancouver.

On Monday, Postmedia News contacted Canadian Manu Immigration and asked to interview Oei about the allegations in the B.C. Securities Commission notice and the civil claim.

“I will pass your information to him, but I’m not sure he will call back,” an employee at Canadian Manu said Monday.

Oei said his clients represent the class ‘between the one and two per cent’ of the most wealthy in China.