An ex-notary public has been fined $33 million for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors of at least $100 million.
The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) announced January 21 Rashida Samji has also been ordered to pay an additional $10.8 million on top of the $33 million fine, for a total of $44 million in penalties.
The $10.8 million covers the difference between the amount deposited by the minimum 200 investors she defrauded and the amount paid out to them.
The BCSC determined in July 2014 that Samji had perpetrated fraud against at least 200 investors, who were told she would hold their money in trust and it would only be used to help secure financing for a winery.
“What makes it even more egregious is that the fraud involved a Ponzi scheme in which the entire investment was premised on a lie,” BCSC panel wrote in its January 16 decision.
“Samji created and controlled this scheme over a period of more than nine years. This misconduct is at the highest end of the scale of seriousness.”
The BCSC also handed Samji a lifetime ban from ever participating in the province’s capital markets.
Samji is also currently facing multiple criminal charges of fraud and theft over $5,000. She’s next scheduled to appear in court in March.
