Crown seeks seven-year sentence in Ponzi case
A former Vancouver notary who was convicted of running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme should receive a seven- to eightyear jail term, a prosecutor argued Tuesday.
In May, Rashida Samji was found guilty of 28 counts of theft and fraud related to the scheme, which affected more than 200 investors.
The sentencing hearing before Provincial Court Judge Gregory Rideout dealt with the impact on 14 investors who were defrauded out of $16 million over a 9½-year period, from 2003 to 2012.
The scheme saw Samji, 63, solicit money that she told the investors would be used as collateral to pro- vide “letters of comfort” for Vancouver’s Mark Anthony Group so it could obtain financing for operations in South America and South Africa.
But Mark Anthony was unaware it was being used in the scheme and instead of paying investors up to 12 per cent per year in interest, Samji was paying them back using their own money.
In his sentencing submissions, Crown counsel Kevin Marks told the judge that Samji’s scam was deliberate and had a high degree of premeditation.
“This investment was an outright lie from the very beginning,” said Marks, adding that the scheme put investors’ money at risk and jeopardized the reputation of Mark An- thony, which he called an innocent third party.
Marks said the fraud was only discovered when Coast Capital Savings in January 2012 sent out an alert that one of its employees, who had links to Samji, was believed to be involved in a Ponzi scheme.
An official with the TD Bank did an analysis, confronted Samji and concluded that she was operating a Ponzi scheme and contacted the B.C. Securities Commission, which intervened and put a stop to the scheme, eventually ordering Samji to pay $33 million in penalties based on an estimated $110-million Ponzi scheme.
Marks read out a number of statements from victims who were devastated by the fraud.
Reena Rajan and her husband, Sharim, who is a first cousin of Samji, invested $179,000 and suffered a shortfall of $149,000. She suffered heightened anxiety, panic attacks and “endless” tears.
Clare Gray, a longtime friend and former employee of Samji, and her husband Andrew invested $200,000 and had a net loss of $65,000.
She felt “totally deceived” by Samji.
Francisco Gonzalez lost $312,000, which he said in his statement had destroyed his overall health. His partner, Andreas Manning, invested $12 million and had a shortfall of $8 million.
Manning, who met Samji through a business colleague, said in his statement that he felt “ashamed and embarrassed” for allowing himself to be so gullible and trusting. Richard Peck, a lawyer for Samji, conceded that the crimes his client committed deserved jail and called for a four- to five-year prison sentence.
He told the judge that Samji was an otherwise caring, generous, hardworking person who had overcome obstacles in her life and wondered how she could have committed such a crime. Peck pointed to a “confluence” of three events — Samji finding herself in debt, suffering from cancer and then depression — as contributing factors.
He claimed the crimes were not driven by greed or to furnish a “lavish” lifestyle.
“It might sound futile, but I am truly sorry for the loss, pain and grief endured by the investors,” Samji, who is now working as a hotel clerk for $15 an hour, told the judge.
“Through this very difficult circumstance, the Society of Notaries, my friends and family have also suffered a lot. It has been a very sad and unfortunate situation. I deeply regret it and pray that some day I will be forgiven.”
Outside court, Ron Usher, who acts as general counsel for the Society of Notaries Public of B.C., told reporters that Samji had made a substantial profit from the crimes and had in fact led a lavish lifestyle.
The judge is expected to impose sentence today.