A Vancouver resident – a former notary public – and two companies under her control committed fraud worth $100 million, found the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC).
Rashida Samji ran a Ponzi scheme between approximately 2003 and January 2012, said the BCSC. She told at least 200 investors that she was investing their money in a winery (which turned out to be fictitious) and that she would hold their investments in trust. She also told investors they would earn fees for securing letters of credit.
“Instead, the panel found, the so-called investment was ‘one big lie’ and ‘a monumental deceit,’” the BCSC said in a news release. “There was no winery involved, no letters of comfort, nor any fees.
“Samji did not hold investors’ money in trust, but used it to pay returns to other investors, and for her own use.”
Samji was a notary public from 1988 until 2012, when she submitted her resignation after the Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia had suspended her.
