I WAS CHARGED FOR ‘PONZI’ BY OSC

The first time I was charged with fraud by OSC and later by the Toronto police, alleging that I had orchestrated a Ponzi scheme, I laughed. I was worried, of course, but I still laughed. It made no sense to me, and all I had known about the term "Ponzi" was that it was when someone in the world of finance had cheated his or her clients in some nefarious way to steal. My worry came from fears of racism on the part of governments, discrimination, the always-dangerous risk of the corruption of power, Falsified evidence, and complicated legal language, as I am not knowledgeable about such things. I was worried about possible obstruction of justice, defamation of my long-respected character, harm to my respected investors, as well as to my family and the Chinese-Canadian community. I was not wrong to worry: there was great punishment and deprivation inflicted on me: I was denied the opportunity to continue to invest on behalf of my clients, who had lost a considerable amount of money in the market and I was even jailed for several months and held under abominable conditions in Toronto's notorious Don Jail for no reason whatsoever. (I had innocently flown to China for a few weeks to visit my adult daughter, who was working there, and was arrested for no reason immediately after I was ordered to return to Toronto.) And recently, along came a wrong-headed, misleading forensic report of Mr. Michael de Verteul of the Ontario Securities Commission OF yours ! How would I clear my name, help my clients to recoup their losses, return to my business, and continue to work on behalf of my ethnic community, as well as improve our economy and better the world, as I had done for so many years? Yet I laughed. How could the OSC and the police--usually so trustworthy and decent in our great nation--charge someone with fraud? Someone like myself, who had not only been clean and honest his entire half-century of life, but who had been vocally and actively anti-fraud; a true business person with character and integrity? Suddenly, I had lost my name and all my money because of OSC and the crown, found my applications for legal aid declined, and charged with many millions of dollars of losses purportedly due to fraudulent actions, and forced to go to court without lawyers! It was, and is, a Kafka-esque nightmare for me, my clients, my community, and my family. Here I was, Weizhen Tang, someone who had made major contributions to Canada, raised (legally!) $60 million from clients around the world over three years, while paying millions in business and service fees (thus helping our beloved country's economy), and making good profits consistently for investors, until the shattering of the world's economies in 2008, which led to major losses to millions of others around the planet, and not only me and my clients. I, who had happily and regularly paid large sums in taxes for over a decade-and-a-half, always paying his bills, was forced to mortgage my home, and live on welfare with my wife and children! What is almost as horrible is the fact that the Ontario Securities Commission and Ontario Police spent and wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on my case, while gaining nothing and uncovering no fraud in any of my actions--no Ponzi scheme, no deception. How could a usually-good government fight an innocent person like myself? How could such evils flourish in an open, democratic society? I plan and hope to turn this outrageously negative misfortune into something positive, by winning this case, because of my honesty and influence. I plan to become an even larger figure in the public square, due to this horrible miscarriage of justice, returning to my once-flourishing business, and continuing to fight fraud wherever it exists, working for my investors and clients in particular, and society in general. I ran a private company, one of the important engines of our economy. And now I fear sloppy or even deceptive legal procedures which might prevent this goal. The so-called "Ponzi Schemer" never makes real money in the markets of the world--as I did for over 15 years, for both my clients and myself. These evil souls never teach others how they "make their money"; never have any true investments and honest returns. I did a huge volume of trading, and hope to continue. Ponzi schemes are truly crimes, while I expect to attract more, and larger, investors. Any Ponzi Schemer deserves to be exposed, and I hope and trust that they shall all be, such as the dreadful Mr. Madoff--a former President of NASDAQ of all things!--in the United States. I am guilty of no crimes, as I believe I shall be able to prove in court, yet I, my respected clients, and my family, have suffered terribly over the past several years. I was not surprised to hear on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently that the Ontario's Crown Attorney's Office withdrew criminal charges against another Toronto man who had been accused of operation a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme. Mistakes are often made, even by the most respected, powerful public institutions. According to a report filed by a court-appointed receiver, Tzvi Erez used a series of expertly forged documents to defraud more than 70 investors of $27 million, yet in an email from Crown attorney Christine McGoey (obtained by CBC News), the Crown explained that one of the reasons why it decided to not pursue the case was because of "competition over trial time." Yet, somehow, other Crown attorneys find the time and resources to accuse, attack, and even arrest someone like me, often described as "the Chinese Warren Buffett." I, who had never falsified any document nor lied to anyone, nor ever cheated in my life, determined as I have always been to be a man of honesty and decency. Is it not informative that a large majority of my clients actually petitioned the court to allow me to return to trading on their behalf, so that I could work to earn their lost money back for them? Could you imagine even one, single client of the jailed-for-life Mr. Madoff request that such a criminal like he should be allowed to continue to invest on their behalf? All I ask is that our justly respected police and OSC go after the real criminals who have harmed others, and not waste their time and public money chasing after good individuals like me, who long to continue to work on behalf of their clients and society. Yes, I laughed at these charges over two years ago, but I continue to worry. I worry that I shall encounter an unfair trial, lacking any lawyers well prepared for my defense--indeed, lacking any lawyers at all. If I am brought to trial, I request that all legal documents be prepared in both Chinese and English, since the first language of both myself and my clients is Chinese. There have been serious mistakes by the government, the police, and several major institutions, and I fear that it will be impossible to grant me a fair trial. I appeal to the court and you, the new judge, to stop any attempt at media bans. I hope and pray that everything will be open to the public. Most of all, I’d like to ask you drop this case, and all charges against me. It is a waste of time and money, and my goal, as always, is to reform our institutions, and continue to strengthen our courts, our police, and our entire society. Sincerely yours, Weizhen Tang Toronto, Ontario Nov 16, 2011

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