Vancouver man defrauded Chinese developers of US$500K, court rules
CTV
A Vancouver man has been ordered to pay more than US$500,000 after a B.C. Supreme Court judge found he had defrauded the would-be developers of a real estate project in China of that amount.
A Vancouver man has been ordered to pay more than US$500,000 after a B.C. Supreme Court judge found he had defrauded the would-be developers of a real estate project in China of that amount.
In a decision issued earlier this week and published online Friday, Justice Neena Sharma ruled that Christopher Lee is liable to Hainan Dehong Real Estate Development Corporation and Hainan Kinghouse Real Estate Development Corporation for "fraud and/or fraudulent misrepresentation."
The two companies sued Lee – along with a mortgage brokerage and one of its contractors – for his role in an ultimately failed attempt to secure US$100 million in financing for a land development project on Hainan Island in China.
Sharma's decision describes the two development corporations as "family companies" run by Cexen Fu, whose daughter Julie Fu lives in Vancouver and represented the plaintiffs at the trial.
In 2014, the younger Fu worked with a mortgage broker named Frank Lee – who is not related to Christopher Lee – to acquire a large tract of commercial land on Alderbridge Way in Richmond for $65 million on behalf of one of the family companies.
Early the following year, she reached out to Frank Lee again to inquire about financing for the Hainan Island project, which is described in the decision as a proposed "shopping centre and recreation complex."
Frank Lee told her he was not licensed to provide mortgage broker services for transactions outside British Columbia, but agreed to assist her in some capacity, according to the decision.
