Province claims home was bought to launder cash
Government alleges drug trafficker bought property to launder cash
A convicted trafficker facing new drug and firearms charges laundered his illicit profits through the purchase of a Surrey house, the B.C. government alleges in a civil suit.
B.C.’s director of civil forfeiture says career criminal Frederic Wilson is the actual owner of the house at 5846 134A Street, even though it’s registered in the name of his brother-in-law, Phoukhong Phommaviset.
“Phoukhong Phommaviset is a nominee and is holding the title to the property for the true beneficial owner, Frederic Wilson,” says the statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
Phommaviset has filed a response to the lawsuit, stating “the property was acquired with lawful proceeds, including, but not limited to employment income, rental income, capital gains, borrowings and/or savings."
The documents say Wilson and his wife, Latsaphone Koonpackdee, are only tenants in the house.
Phommaviset “denies any involvement in criminal activity or receiving any proceeds directly or indirectly, that, to his knowledge, were proceeds of unlawful activity.”
Wilson’s drug trafficking convictions date back to 1995.
His most recent came in April when a Vancouver judge found him guilty of possession of cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA for the purpose of trafficking, as well as two precursor chemicals used to make meth. He was sentenced to seven years in jail on June 30.
And he is still facing a series of new counts stemming from his arrest in May at a White Rock drug lab.
Wilson’s house was purchased in December 2011 for $768,000. It’s now valued at $852,000.
The government suit lays out a convoluted series of transactions in the fall of 2011 that it says prove Wilson and Koonpackdee are the real owners. It is seeking forfeiture of all or part of the value of the house.
Large amounts of money used for the deposit and later the down payment were provided by Wilson and Koonpackdee “in an effort to launder the proceeds of unlawful activity,” the civil forfeiture suit alleges.
Some of the money used for the down payment came from an account belonging to the mortgage broker’s brother and sister-in-law, the court documents said.
The mortgage broker himself — Bhupinder Dhaliwal — also kicked in almost $80,000 for the down payment, police determined.
Dhaliwal told The Sun he had no idea Wilson was a convicted drug trafficker until the RCMP visited him several months ago.
“The policeman told me and I was surprised. I was extremely surprised. I could not believe it,” he said. “He was very sweet to talk to and easily I could trust him.”
Dhaliwal said that before the 2011 house deal, he met Wilson and his wife, who he called Lani, once or twice through a mutual friend.
He said Wilson claimed to work in “securities” and to deal only in cash to avoid having to pay his exwife more money.
“That was the story they were giving,” he said. “He said he works with ... cash so that his wife can’t take anymore money away because she has taken close to $500,000, he was saying. He said he still has lots of money.”
Dhaliwal claimed he was struggling with credit card debts of more than $70,000, so asked Wilson for a loan to pay them off. He said the loan transaction was completed before Wilson and Koonpackdee came to him about the mortgage.
“They were saying they were the silent partners in this house, half and half, I think.”
But Wilson and Koonpackdee didn’t want their names on the house because of Wilson’s “rough divorce,” Dhaliwal said.
Dhaliwal said he agreed to broker a mortgage for Phommaviset, as long as he qualified on his own.
“Just a few days before the closing, (Wilson and Koonpackdee) demanded the money back. And I said, ‘I don’t have it because you didn’t say you need the money this quick,’” Dhaliwal said.
He said Wilson told him Phommaviset had an emergency and “they had to close the deal.”
“Then he made me feel so guilty, saying ... they are going to lose the house,” Dhaliwal said. “I had to take the money from all of my credit cards to the maximum limit.”
He said he also borrowed money from his brother and paid all of it into Phommaviset’s accounts at Wilson’s request.
Dhaliwal claimed he paid well beyond what he owed in order to help Wilson out because “all of their dreams were in this house.”
Wilson later came to him and repaid about $20,000 to Dhaliwal, all in cash, he said.
Asked if the transactions were appropriate business practice for a mortgage broker, Dhaliwal said, “No, it is not. I am still shocked and ashamed and embarrassed. Now I see, it really bothers me. It’s not that he made a fool out of me. I was stupid enough to be made a fool of by a criminal.”