BCSC has $70K to return to fraud victims

The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) is looking to return about $70,000 to victims of a multi-million dollar investment fraud.

The regulator said that it has received almost $70,000 that it will distribute to victims of a fraud scheme perpetrated by Paul Se Hui Oei and Canadian Manu Immigration & Financial Services Inc.

Back in 2018, the BCSC ordered that Oei and Canadian Manu pay $3.1 million in disgorgement and $5.5 million in penalties after a regulatory hearing panel found that they defrauded investors when they diverted a portion of the $13.3 million that they raised from investors, ostensibly to invest in a pair of startups.

The panel wasn’t able to precisely quantify the amount that investors lost due to misconduct, as some of money was lost when the legitimate ventures failed, among other factors.

Ultimately, it ordered $3.1 in disgorgement after finding that Oei and Canadian Manu obtained over $5 million from their misconduct, but that about $1.9 million of this was repaid to harmed investors.

Now, the BCSC has “received $69,887.85 from a party other than Oei or Canadian Manu, which it will distribute to eligible claimants,” it said in a release, adding that investors who lost money as a direct result of Oei’s misconduct can make a claim for a portion of the money by August 11.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.