Tang fraud trial takes bizarre turn
Witness says she wants to take over accused’s investment business
The fraud trial of Weizhen Tang took a bizarre turn on Thursday, with testimony from a Crown witness who said she wants to be the new “Queen of 1-per-cent returns.”
During a tense cross-examination, witness Lucy Lu often became angry, yelling on the stand and calling a defence lawyer advising Tang “a liar.”
Tang, a Toronto businessman, is accused of running a Ponzi scheme, paying early investors with money from those who came after.
Tang has pleaded not guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000.
Prosecutors say that, billing himself as “the king” of 1per cent weekly returns, Tang pulled in as much as $30 million from hundreds of investors.
Lu testified that she used to be in the restaurant business, first in China, and after she came to Canada.
She also told the court through a Mandarin interpreter that in 2006 she sold the business and began day trading through a personal account. She said she focused on “foreign currency exchange and oil.”
In January 2009, Lu deposited about $1 million with Tang’s company, known as Oversea Chinese Fund Limited Partnership. Lu bristled when Peter Boushy, who conducted the cross-examination on behalf of Tang, presented documents to the court showing that Lu had $5 million in her personal trading account. “Is this Mr. Tang’s case or my case? What does my personal account have to do with this?” Lu asked. Boushy suggested that Lu had a side deal where Tang traded for her in her personal account, and the January deposit was a 25-per-cent payment on a profit of $4 million. “This is my account and my money. I did the trading,” Lu responded. Boushy then asked why she traded in her personal account at Tang’s home and his downtown office. The jury heard that in September 2006, Lu went to China to visit her dying mother. When she returned, she was angry to find out that her husband invested money with Tang. They had an argument that turned physical, and Lu was arrested and charged with assault. Tang posted Lu’s bail, on the condition that she live at his North York home. The charges were later dropped but Lu pleaded guilty to a breach of recognizance and was given 18 months probation. Boushy then showed the court a brochure that she had created to advertise a venture called “Golden Future International Investment Limited Partnership.”
“The reason you haven’t admitted to this court that it was Mr. Tang who did your trading was that you want to be the new Mr. Tang, the Queen of 1 per cent, isn’t that right?” Boushy said.
Lu replied: “I had this idea in 2006. That’s why I used my own money and practised in my personal account.
“I am a proven businesswoman. I started to do my own business when I was 10 years old.”
The court has heard that Tang told investors in late February 2009 that there was no money left and their investments had been lost.