[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Trail Links News Local News Crime
Lawsuit states Prab Rai, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 NHL draft, held himself out to be a successful and wealthy business person.
Canucks’ prospect Prab Rai in 2010. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /Vancouver Sun Article content
A BC judge has frozen the assets of a former Vancouver Canucks draft pick who is being sued over allegations he defrauded a realtor of more than $2.8 million.
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content item
Harpreet Singh Khela, the realtor, claims that Prab Rai, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 NHL draft, held himself out to be a successful and wealthy business person, purporting to have important connections with prominent local and international business people and retired hockey players.
By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up!
Article content Canucks prospect Prab Rai at training camp in 2009. Photo by Jason Payne /PROVINCE
He says that Rai provided to him phoney emails, financial statements, agreements and documents from those prominent business people and retired professional hockey players in order to fraudulently induce him to transfer more than $2.8 million for real estate developments and other investments.
The alleged schemes included a San Diego development property, a Tim Hortons franchise, and the purchase of the Sutton Hotel in Vancouver.
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content item
Khela claims that Rai convinced him to advance $2.4 million as a deposit to buy the hotel for $200 million.
Another alleged scheme involved Rai telling Khela that a prominent former Canuck player was interested in purchasing commercial real estate located in Alberta that Khela held shares in.
Khela claims that starting in 2017 and continuing to about October 2020, Rai told him that they had earned significant profits from their purported ventures and then concealed the fraud by telling him a false story that the profits had been frozen by the US government and were unavailable .
He claimed that in October 2020, Khela was told that Rai had been kidnapped on his way to the airport, beaten and robbed of his hard drive, which contained all of his bank account information, and that all of his money was gone.
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content item
Following the fantastical’ kidnapping story, Khela says he began to investigate his business dealings with Rai and discovered the alleged fraud.
Prab Rais stories to Khela about the profits earned by their business ventures were a lie. There are no profits, and there were no IRS investigations or frozen accounts, says the lawsuit.
Prab Rai told these false stories for the purpose of preventing Khela from commencing legal proceedings to trace and recover the funds that he advanced to Prab Rai.
Rai, a junior hockey star out of Surrey, signed a contract with the Canucks in 2010, but his hockey career was sidelined due to injuries he suffered in a car accident, according to media reports.
In his response filed in court, Rai said that over the course of many years, Khela had actively attempted to ingratiate himself with Rai and involve, or associate himself with, Rais legitimate business pursuits.
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content item
The plaintiffs efforts were motivated by the plaintiffs considerable financial aspirations, lack of independent financial resources, and indebtedness to third parties, says the response.
When Mr. Rai sought to limit his involvement with the plaintiff, the plaintiff, in an effort to forestall his own creditors, began making a series of sweeping, unfounded allegations against Mr. Rai and, still further, Mr. Rais immediate family members.
The lawyers representing Rai later with draw from the case. Rai, who told the judge in the asset case that he owed his lawyers $80,000, could not be reached for comment.
Prab Rai makes a big hit on Calgary Flames Lance Bouma during pre-season action at Rogers Arena in 2010. Photo by Steve Bosch /PNG
After the lawsuit was filed, Khela went to court and sought an order freezing Rais assets.
In her ruling on the case, BC Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick noted that the only substantive assets of Rai are two Lamborghini luxury vehicles with a combined value of about $1.2 million.
Advertisement 6
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content item
She concluded that the legal test had been made to order the freezing of the assets and found there was a real risk of dissipation of those assets. The judge ordered that Rai provide a list of his assets and not dispose of them.
Several of Rais family members, including his brother, who is a former RCMP officer, are also named as defendants and have filed documents denying they were involved in any fraudulent activity.
An amended lawsuit was filed in September 2021. The judges ruling was given orally in October 2021, with a written copy of that ruling attached to the court file.
A 15-day trial is scheduled to begin in January 2024.
twitter.com/keithrfraser
Port Moody fraudster sentenced for violating BC Securities Commission order Government arguing unprecedented application of fraud law in Meng case: lawyer Here are the top 10 scams in Canada: BBB Share this article in your social network Advertisement 1
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourages all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
|
Sources 2/ https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/judge-freezes-assets-of-former-canuck-draft-pick-facing-2-8-million-fraud-allegation The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
[ad_2]