Arvindbhai Bakorbhai Patel was her accomplice.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Over 10 years, Rashida Samji allegedly defrauded more than 200 victims of millions of dollars in the largest Ponzi scheme British Columbia, Canada, has ever seen.
Investors in Samji’s operation were told their funds would provide financial backing to foreign wineries built by the Mark Anthony Group, while remaining safely in Samji’s trust. They were promised as much as a 30 percent return, but most only received 12 percent annually, with the first half spit out within the span of the first month in order to make the deal seem lucrative.
The punishments doled out to Samji and her accomplice, financial planner Arvindbhai Bakorbhai Patel, seem significant on paper, but for many victims, closure remains elusive due to the sheer scale of the crime.
Samji was fined [CAD] $33 million last month for masterminding the $110 million scheme, while Patel was arraigned on 32 charges of violating the Securities Commission, none of which have been proven.
“The number of times one of my clients broke down and cried in front of me, I can’t even count it,” said attorney John Green, who represented multiple victims in one lawsuit, to CBC News. Investors came from all walks of life: dentists, teachers, doctors, even a former Edmonton Oilers head coach.
Meanwhile, Samji’s interviews with the BCSC have raised troubling questions about the culpability of some among her clientele. Samji disclosed that she suspected some of her investors who were getting inordinately high returns knew something was awry.
“Without it ever being formally said or put into writing, these are people who knew that you couldn’t have an investment return of 30 to 40 per cent without something amiss there,” she said. “They are seasoned people, not uneducated people, and it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure some of this out,” Samji told investigators.
As further restitution for her role in the Ponzi scheme, Samji has also been banned from investor relations, trading, and any other financial activity “to be sure she’s not … in a position to raise money from anyone ever again,” as paraphrased from the mouth of Joyce Johner, a senior litigator at the B.C. Securities Commission.