A money manager accused of operating a Ponzi scheme targeting Toronto's Chinese community is scheduled to return to Canada next week to face fraud charges.
Weizhen Tang, who calls himself a "Chinese Warren Buffett" has booked a plane ticket to fly to Toronto from Shanghai on Jan. 13, Toronto police said yesterday.
Mr. Tang is being sought under a Canada-wide arrest warrant, accused of masterminding a Ponzi scheme that cost its victims $30-million. Police said his victims have been located in Canada, the U.S. and China.
In e-mails earlier this week, Mr. Tang said he left Canada in November - before charges were laid against him - because he wanted to go to China to earn back money his clients lost. He said he had to leave Canada to do so, because the Ontario Securities Commission has banned him from trading securities here.
Police said Mr. Tang had arranged to return to Canada on Dec. 29 to surrender, but did not appear. His lawyer said he asked for an extension, but it was refused. Mr. Tang said earlier this week he expected to return to Canada in February instead. But Toronto police said yesterday that Mr. Tang has now agreed to return next Wednesday.
Mr. Tang founded Oversea Chinese Fund LP in 2001 and quickly became a fixture in Toronto's Chinese community, donating money to various causes and sponsoring events. But his firm appeared to run out of cash last spring, and regulators launched an investigation after investors began to demand their money back.
In addition to the criminal charges, the Ontario Securities Commission has filed charges against Mr. Tang in provincial court. A trial is expected to begin in that matter in April. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against him last year, but he reached a settlement in the case without admitting or denying the claims.
None of the allegations against Mr. Tang have been proven in court, and he has insisted he is innocent and operated a legitimate investment operation. "I have nothing to do with fraud, and I am not hiding from anybody," Mr. Tang wrote in an e-mail this week. "I told my lawyer I will be back to my hearing on February [sic]and use the break to make money since the OSC ban me from trading."