Investors defrauded by two B.C. sisters in property scam will get $2 million returned

Investors defrauded by two Lower Mainland B.C. sisters will have $2 million returned of $33 million lost more than a decade ago in Alberta property development schemes.

In 2016, a B.C. Securities Commission tribunal found the two sisters — Siu Mui (Debbie) Wong and Siu Kon (Bonnie) Soo — had committed fraud by misappropriating $1.2 million of investors’ money and transferring shares to companies owned by their adult children and husbands without obtaining investor approval.

The sisters had also inflated the purchase price of property and lied about it to investors, used mortgage proceeds for purposes other than developing the property, and withheld information about potential delays in developing the property.

The sisters were among dozens of financial fraudsters profiled in a 2017 Postmedia investigation that found more than half a billion dollars in B.C. Securities Commission penalties had gone uncollected in the past decade.