The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has charged with fraud two residents of Edmonton, Alberta. Carlito (Carl) Benito, 65 and Charles Jefferson Benito, 25 have employed illegal immigrants and committed other offenses.
Carlito (Carl) Benito and Charles Jefferson Benito are accused of unauthorized employment of foreign citizens, misrepresentation in providing advisory services, and mischief.
Both men are licenced immigration consultants. According to the CBSA, from November 2015 to October 2016, they illegally employed foreign citizens at Triple Maple Leaf Canada Corporation, Helping Migrants Canadian Immigration Corporation, and World Immigration Group Corporation.
They advised temporary foreign workers to apply for student permits, despite the applicants “having no intention of going to school,” according to a CBSA report. This way, immigrants could extend their status and get work permits for themselves and their spouses.
It is alleged that the defendants and their assistants also provided short-term loans of up to C$17 thousand so that their clients could meet the financial requirements to obtain a study permit. These alleged crimes took place from November 2015 to June 2018.
Another immigration-related court hearing recently took place in British Columbia. In August 2019, one of the defendants in the case of the largest immigration fraud in the province’s history, Xiao Feng “Heki” He, was sentenced to 20 months in prison and a fine of C$44,659 for tax evasion. He worked as an immigration consultant without a license from 2008 to 2011.
While working at New Can Consultants and Wellong International Investments, He was implicated in passport fraud and misrepresentation regarding more than 150 clients who paid companies approximately C$1.2 million for these services.
Other defendants in this case are Xun “Sunny” Wang, who was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined C$900 thousand, and three women who got 18 months in prison and paid a total of C$220 thousand in fines.
More than 1,600 people were involved in New Can fraudulent services and paid over C$10 million for obtaining fake documents and creating illegal applications for permanent residence and citizenship. According to the CBSA, more than 1 thousand New Can clients have either lost their immigration status in Canada or have been referred for an admissibility hearing. Other cases are still pending investigation.