Court orders sale of Richmond, B.C., condo as partial repayment of multi-million-dollar fraud

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered the sale of a Richmond condo after determining that it was acquired using funds from a US$7 million fraud committed in Washington State in 2007.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered the sale of a Richmond condo after determining that it was acquired using funds from a US$7 million fraud committed in Washington State in 2007.

The court petition that led to the decision came from Prima Technology, Inc., the Washington company that was defrauded.

The company sought the order for the sale of the condo as part of its efforts to recover the money from Jinzhe Yang – also known as Mary Yang – and her husband Samuel Zhu. The pair are former employees of Prima Technology who were found by a civil jury in the U.S. to have committed the fraud, according to the B.C. decision.

Including legal fees, interest and court costs, Yang and Zhu owe a total of more than US$11 million to the company, some of which has been paid back, wrote Justice Alan M. Ross in his decision. 

"Since Dec. 16, 2016, the plaintiff has had some success in recovering the funds owed," Ross wrote. "I am informed that the plaintiff has obtained orders for the sale of four properties in the Vancouver area. However, the plaintiff notes that Mary has not voluntarily repaid any of the amounts awarded against her."

The title to the Richmond condo, a unit in a highrise at 8180 Lansdowne Rd., is registered to Yang's mother-in-law Yunyu Yang, according to the decision. Prima Technology launched its court action in hopes of proving that the property was purchased using Mary's money, and therefore could be sold as part of the company's efforts to recover the amount she owes it.

Mary was not a party to the court proceeding. The company brought its action against Yunyu, using bank records it obtained in Mary's bankruptcy proceeding to support its claim.