9th person sentenced in largest immigration fraud case in Canadian history
Karin Larsen | CBC News | Posted: August 9, 2019 6:46 PM | Last Updated: August 9, 2019
Xiao He named a key player in passport scheme used by company to cheat Canadian immigration requirements
A man found to be a key player in a passport fraud scheme used to help Chinese clients cheat Canadian immigration requirements has been sentenced to 20 months in jail and fined $44,659 for tax evasion in B.C. provincial court.
Xiao Feng "Heki" He pleaded guilty to one charge each of fraud, forgery, and tax evasion, and four charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
He's offences relate to 151 clients of New Can Consultants Ltd. He worked as an unlicensed immigration consultant for New Can and was heavily involved in the company's China office.
He is the ninth person to be sentenced in what is the single biggest immigration scam in Canadian history, involving over 1,600 clients.
A thousand former clients of the company have so far lost their immigration status or been reported as inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Other cases are still pending.
Between 2006 and 2013, clients collectively paid New Can $10 million to obtain residency and Canadian citizenship. New Can used illegal methods such as false passport entries, fake job offers and bogus Canadian home addresses to skirt immigration rules, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.
In 2015, Xun "Sunny" Wang, the man behind New Can, was sentenced to seven years in jail and ordered to pay fines totalling almost $920,000.
Wang was released on early parole in 2017, despite having not paid the fines.
In February of this year, B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture office started going after properties owned by Wang, claiming they were purchased with ill-gotten money and used to launder proceeds of crime.