The promise of fee-earning letters of credit (L/Cs) featured in a C$100 million Ponzi scheme uncovered by the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC).

The commission for the Canadian province found that the fraud was perpetrated by a Vancouver resident and two companies under her control.

Investors duped

Former notary public, Rashida Samji, ran the scheme between approximately 2003 and January 2012, according to the BCSC.

It said she told at least 200 investors that their money would be invested in a winery and that she would hold their investments in trust. She also told investors that L/Cs would be secured and they would earn fees from them.

One big lie

The winery turned out to be fictitious and fees from the L/Cs never materialised. Instead of holding investors' money in trust, she used it to pay returns to some investors and for her own purposes.

The BCSC described the scheme as "one big lie" and "a monumental deceit."

Samji was a notary public from 1988 until 2012 when she resigned after first being suspended by the Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.