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8 years in jail for Ponzi?

A Crown lawyer says a British Columbia woman who bilked 28 investors out of millions of dollars and potentially compromised the Canadian economy should get a seven- to eight-year prison sentence.

Kevin Mark told a provincial court sentencing hearing that Rashida Samji masterminded a scheme between 2003 and 2012 and involved another person to enlist investors.

Mark says Samji lied to close friends, a cousin and a former employee in her notary practice to collect investments ranging from $50,000 to $12 million.

Samji was found guilty of 28 charges in May, but she'll only be sentenced to 14 counts of fraud after the remaining charges of theft against her were stayed.

Last year, the British Columbia Securities Commission ordered Samji to pay $33 million in fines and $11 million in compensation to investors.

The commission ruled Samji defrauded more than 200 investors of a least $100 million.



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