Daughter of high-profile Toronto businesswoman and political fundraiser charged with murder
Yun Lu 'Lucy' Li, 25, and her boyfriend Oliver Karafa, 28, have so far eluded capture after fleeing the scene
The Toronto area’s Chinese-Canadian community is abuzz this week after the daughter of a high-profile and politically connected local businesswoman was charged with murder along with her boyfriend.
Yun Lu “Lucy” Li, 25, and Oliver Karafa, 28, have so far eluded capture after fleeing the scene in a late-model Land Rover, say police in Hamilton, Ont.
A Vancouver man, Tyler Pratt, 39, was killed and a woman, 26, injured in the Feb. 28 shooting behind a building in an industrial part of the city.
All four were known to each other and were “associates,” said Hamilton Police Service spokeswoman Jackie Penman Tuesday.
Mother Hong Wei “Winnie” Liao runs financial-management business Respon International Group, holds a glitzy annual charity gala and has ties to both local politicians and Chinese diplomats in Canada.
A photo of her shaking hands with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is featured prominently on the company’s website. On a Chinese-language news site, she’s featured with Doug Ford, Ontario’s Conservative premier.
A 2016 media report said Liao had held fundraising events for Trudeau at a time when the Liberals faced stiff criticism over cash-for-access gatherings.
We are deeply shocked, disturbed and puzzled
Before becoming wanted on murder charges, the daughter attracted attention for much different reasons. Lucy Li is a triplet, and one of her sisters was a contestant in Miss World Toronto last year, while all three daughters appear together online modelling swimwear, lingerie and other clothes.
They have also been credited with helping found a group called Canadian Youth Funding Association, one of the Respon charity gala’s beneficiaries.
Liao could not be reached for comment by phone or text Monday. An employee at her company’s office said she was traveling to Vancouver.
But in a statement issued to Chinese-language media, the suspect’s family offered its condolences to the victims and their families.
“We are deeply shocked, disturbed and puzzled by Lucy’s involvement in the unfortunate incident,” said a translated version of the statement.
In a part of the message aimed directly at Lucy Li, family members say they love her and believe in her innocence, but urge her to co-operate with the authorities.
Two sources in the Toronto-area community of mainland-Chinese immigrants say the case is being followed closely because of the mother’s prominent role in that population.
“She goes everywhere. She’s very high profile, since a long time ago,” said one acquaintance of Liao’s, who didn't want to be named and be kept private. “Many people discuss and talk about her …She’s very kind of powerful.”
Hamilton police have said relatively little about the shooting, indicating that passersby came across a woman suffering from a gunshot wound early the evening of Feb. 28 in the Stoney Creek neighborhood. When police responded to a call about the woman, they found Pratt’s body nearby, Staff Sgt. Jim Callender told reporters last week.
Callender said the suspects left the scene in what appeared to be a white, newer-model Land Rover, which police later recovered. Charges against Li and Karafa were announced four days later, but police say the pair appear to have departed the Toronto-Hamilton area.
According to Liao’s acquaintance, she immigrated to Canadian about 20 years ago from China’s Hunan province, settling first in the Toronto area. She built Respon, described in a 2018 promotional article as having offices in 13 cities from Prince Edward Island to Vancouver.
The firm specializes in asset allocation, family property inheritance and asset-maximization and tax strategy, becoming one of the top achievers in the London Life insurance company’s Freedom 55 program, said the article.
Liao has also left at least a financial mark in the political world. She made donations to the Liberal party totaling about $20,000 between 2014 and 2019, Elections Canada’s database indicates.
A 2016 Globe and Mail article said she had held several fundraisers for Trudeau, it was part of a campaign by the party to seek donations from wealthy Chinese Canadians.
The controversy led the Liberals to institute reforms to their fundraising policies, which they allege are now more transparent and accountable than those of any other party.
Liao has appeared in photographs with Han Tao, China’s consul general to Toronto.
A note on the website of the country’s Vancouver consulate mentions a visit by the businesswoman to the mission in 2016. It acknowledges her company’s support for “overseas Chinese” groups in the area, and for promoting Chinese culture and exchanges between the Chinese community and political groups.
The triplets appear in sometimes-racy photographs together on Reddit pages, one of which has more than 90,000 followers, modelling skimpy clothing of various sorts.
Lucy’s sister Kaitlyn was one of 44 finalists in the Canadian branch of the Miss World 2020 pageant. She says she and the other triplets founded the Canada Youth Funding Association when just 13, “in hopes of uniting all children to learn, grow, educate, experience, and create anything their hearts desire.”
The organization is featured in the annual Respon Charity Banquet, which once included a performance by their friends Cirque du Soleil, according to online accounts. Liberal MP Jean Yip described it as a “spectacular evening” on Twitter.
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