Biggest immigration fraud “adversely impacts Canadian society”
The judge cited how those who facilitate illegal migrants into Canada put an “astronomical cost” on the Canadian taxpayer, “fuel racial prejudice and racial tension” and “adversely impact all aspects of Canadian society.”
A Metro Vancouver man who made millions producing fraudulent documents for Mainland Chinese and helped them avoid paying taxes should be locked behind bars for the rest of his life, says Rong Chen.
Richmond resident Xun Wang’s companies hauled in $10 million over eight years by producing altered Chinese passports and fraudulent identities for up to 1,200 clients in arguably the largest immigration fraud case in Canadian history.
“How could Wang have done this so easily for 1,000 people? It’s ridiculous,” says Vancouver-based Chen, a real estate consultant raised in China who now helps wealthy Chinese invest in properties along the West Coast of North America.
Instead of life in prison, Richmond provincial court Judge Reg Harris last month sentenced “mastermind” Wang to seven years. He also has to pay a fine of $188,000 for falsely claiming unearned tax rebates, plus another $730,000 for evading Canadian taxes.
Seven illegal immigration consultants who worked for Wang also face charges, prosecutor Jessica Patterson said Wednesday. Arrest warrants remain out for two of them. Others remain under investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency.
The prime purpose of Wang’s operation was to convince Canadian officials his many clients resided in Canada for immigration purposes when they actually lived in China.
RELATED: Metro “immigration consultant” faces fraud sentencing (story broken by Dan Fumano)
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In addition to evading taxes himself, Wang, who was not a member of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council, helped his clients avoid paying taxes in Canada. On their behalf, he also falsely reported income so low that many obtained tax rebates.
“Although the addresses and phone numbers were real,” the judge said, “the clients did not reside at the addresses nor did they have access to the related phone numbers.” (Photo: Fake passports used in mass international fraud.)
Even though Chen believes some of the thousands of people in Canada and offshore who call themselves “immigration consultants” are legitimate, he called on the Liberal government to more rigorously regulate the country’s consultants and more effectively combat scams.
Chen’s views echo those of immigration law scholar Liu Guofu, of the Beijing Institute of Technology, who has predicted that Wang’s complex network — which employed at least 14 people in B.C., Alberta and China — will likely convince Ottawa to tighten its immigration requirements for Chinese people.
“There’s a huge demand for Canadian passports,” noted Chen, who said many upper-middle-class Mainland Chinese seek a safe haven and passport of conveniencebecause they feel economically vulnerable. He also said they want to escape China’s pollution and want their children to have an English-language education.
Court documents show Wang made millions by hiring staff to create thousands of counterfeit Chinese passport stamps, forged drivers’ licences, forged lawyers’ letters, false business cards, forged university letters, phoney paycheques and bogus Canadian tax documents.
The goal of Wang’s widespread deception — which the judge said was motivated entirely by greed — was to convince immigration authorities that more than 1,000 Mainland Chinese who did not live in Canada actually resided here, which made them eligible to become immigrants.
Judge Harris’s sentencing report (which can be read here), outlines the fraudulent techniques used by Wang and his international network.
“The mechanics of false Canadian residency was done via passport frauds, address frauds, employee frauds, false documents and coaching clients to mislead citizenship officers,” the judge said.
“To create the impression that the applicant was living in Canada,” Harris said, Wang fraudulently used hundreds of Canadian addresses and phone numbers — a technique that overlaps with concerns many are expressing about the growing number ofunoccupied dwellings in Metro Vancouver.
“Although the addresses and phone numbers were real,” the judge said, “the clients did not reside at the addresses nor did they have access to the related phone numbers. All mail or phone calls received at the addresses and phone numbers were forwarded to Mr. Wang…. (who) used detailed spreadsheets to track them.”
In addition to Wang’s serial fraud regarding his clients’ country of residence, hundreds of them adopted his honed techniques for avoiding Canadian taxes.
Wang’s employees faked thousands of employment documents for clients, most of whom had no real jobs in Canada. In what prosecutors noted was a craven twist, Wang’s staff made some clients’ earnings appear so low that they ended up receiving rebates from the Canada Revenue Agency, as well as social-security benefits.
Harris could not find another Canadian immigration scam that matched “the scale of that perpetrated by Mr. Wang,” a former insurance agent and father of two who previously had no criminal record.
In determining Wang’s sentence, the judge took into account the punishments meted out in a range of earlier migration scams.
In what prosecutors noted was a craven twist, Wang’s staff made some bogus immigrants’ earnings appear so low they ended up receiving rebates from the Canada Revenue Agency, as well as social-security benefits.
One case involved a man who imported 6,000 fake Alberta drivers’ licences. Another Ontario man filed 150 tax returns falsely claiming his clients lived in Canada, so they could obtain child-tax credits.
A woman in another case counselled au pairs on more than 100 occasions to lie to work in Canada. A B.C. woman was convicted of 16 counts of “arranging sham marriages between Chinese nationals and Canadians.” An Ontario duo arranged impostors to take English-proficiency tests for would-be immigrants with no ability in the language.
But how could Wang have pulled off a covert scheme involving more than 1,000 illicit would-be immigrants for eight years?
Barry Cartwright, senior lecturer in Simon Fraser University’s criminology department, said immigration fraud is “hard to catch. It’s expensive. It’s time consuming. And it’s resource-consuming.”
Even though Cartwright, a former immigration official himself, is not aware of a criminal case as extensive as Wang’s, he knows of larger questionable schemes involving loopholes in the immigration policies of Ottawa and Quebec, especially those to do with investor-class immigrants.
While Cartwright doesn’t want to take away from the value of Canada welcoming what he estimated to be the “nine out of 10” immigrants who end up contributing to the country, he said it’s difficult for officials to carefully screen applicants when “you’re bringing in almost 300,000 immigrants a year, or 25,000 refugees in two months.”
At his sentencing hearing, Wang’s lawyer argued his client’s punishment should be lenient since there was no “breach of trust.” The lawyer said the people who enlisted Wang’s services did so with “their eyes wide open.”
The judge, however, countered that Wang did not mastermind “victimless” crimes. The innocent children of his clients, he noted, could now be deported.
The judge also suggested the country’s entire immigration and taxation systems were victims of Wang’s elaborate cheating.
Wang’s subterfuge, Harris said, undermines whatever confidence Canadians have in the immigration process and is keenly relevant to “today’s age of international terrorism” and people smuggling.
In weighing Wang’s contributions to mass tax avoidance, Harris quoted Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory, who maintained the vast majority of Canadians who pay income tax by way of payroll deduction have little or no opportunity for evasion.
“Those who do evade the payment of income tax not only cheat the state of what is owing to it, but inevitably increase the burden placed upon the honest taxpayers. It is ironic that those who evade payment of taxes think nothing of availing themselves of the innumerable services which the state provides by means of taxes collected from others.”
In further justifying Wang’s seven-year sentence, Harris quoted B.C. Appeal Court Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein, who said those who facilitate illegal migrants into Canada put an “astronomical cost” on the Canadian taxpayer, “fuel racial prejudice and racial tension” and “adversely impact all aspects of Canadian society.”
Even though Wang pleaded guilty, he has launched an appeal of his jail sentence.
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