Accused in alleged Canada Revenue Agency scam fled from B.C. to China: Police
Credit to Author: Gordon Hoekstra| Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:27:44 +0000
An accused in an alleged Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) scam that demanded people pay cash or gift cards has fled to China, according to police.
Haoran Xue, also known as Charlie Xue, is accused of being involved in a scheme to defraud unnamed people of money where fraudsters pose as CRA employees, Mounties, software-company employees or bank investigators.
According to a B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, unsuspecting individuals were demanded to send money in cash or gift cards to retail mailboxes in B.C. and Ontario. According to the court filings, an RCMP probe found that Xue, in his mid-20s, who at times was using fraudulent ID, set up various mailboxes in the Metro Vancouver area and was retrieving money from them.
The RCMP obtained Xue’s banking records and learned that since January 2019 $1 million has been transferred into and out of his bank accounts.
Xue hasn’t responded to the civil-forfeiture suit that contains allegations not proven in court.
However, his father, Zenggang Xue, responded Jan. 28, 2020, denying some of the allegations in the civil-forfeiture suit, including that the Burnaby home is an “instrument of unlawful activity,” that funds from unlawful activities were used to buy or maintain the house and the house was used to launder money. Xue’s father is listed as the owner of the mortgaged Burnaby house, but the civil-forfeiture suit alleges that his son is the true and beneficial owner. This is also denied by the dad.
In his response filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Zenggang Xue said he is the owner of a propane exchange business in the municipality of Yongji, Shaanxi province in China. He said he sent his son, Haoran, to Canada to get a “high-quality” education at Sprott Shaw College where he obtained a degree in business administration. While visiting B.C. the father said he was impressed with the local quality of life, especially the air quality, and bought the house in Burnaby to provide accommodation for his son and to rent out, and possibly as a place for the family to retire.
The dad said he was unaware of the RCMP investigation until summer 2019 and said he is a respected member of his community in Yongji who never engaged in or condoned anything that is contrary to law.
In the civil-forfeiture office’s filings in court, it’s noted that both Haoran Xue and Zenggang Xue are citizens of China. The claim says that on July 6, 2019, Haoran Xue was arrested by the RCMP for fraud and uttering a forged document. The RCMP didn’t hold Xue in custody and he was released the same day.
Xue hasn’t been charged criminally.
Civil-forfeiture suits can be brought when there is not a criminal conviction and are tested on a lower threshold, a balance of probabilities rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court filing says that as a result of Haoran Xue’s “criminal activities,” the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) began an immigration probe that resulted in Xue being arrested by the CBSA and then released on a $10,000 bond, pending an admissibility hearing set for September 2019. According to the court filings, on or about Aug. 15, 2019, Haoran Xue fled Canada and returned to China. At or about the time Xue fled Canada, the Burnaby house was listed for sale.
In November 2019 the civil-forfeiture office filed a certificate of pending litigation on the Burnaby property, which prevents it from being sold or further indebted without court approval.