Illegal migrants paid up to $40,000 to cross the US/Canada border. Link is here.
Looks like disbarred lawyer Ingrid Chen was offering bargain rates when she was involved in setting up an illegal border crossing.
A former Winnipeg immigration lawyer has been handed a one-year conditional sentence after being convicted of helping to smuggle [Ferdinand (Dean) Gutierrez] into the United States in 1999. Ingrid Chen appeared upset when Mr. Justice Nathan Nurgitz handed down the sentence yesterday. He says she will be under a curfew that will allow her to leave her home only to go to work. She will also have to repay about $3,800 she received [for masterminding] the smuggling incident." (Globe and Mail, May 14, 2004)
This is from the Law Society of Manitoba website:
TAKE NOTICE that by resolution of the Complaints Investigation Committee of The Law Society of Manitoba, effective the 8th day of July, 1999, INGRID YIN-YU CHEN was suspended from the practice of law pursuant to Section 50(1) of The Law Society Act pending an inquiry into her conduct.
DATED at the City of Winnipeg, in the Province of Manitoba, this 8th day of July, A.D., 1999.Marilyn W. Billinkoff
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Ms. Chen appealed the decision of the Law Society first to the Court of Queen's Bench - Chen v. Law Society of Manitoba [1999] MJ No. 546 and then to the Manitoba Court of Appeal - Chen v. Law Society of Manitoba [2000] MJ No. 230. Her appeal was dismissed with costs.
She also appealed her criminal conviction to the Manitoba Court of Appeal - R. v. Chen [2004] MJ No. 491. The summary of that appeal decision is essentially:
Appeals dismissed. As there was reliable and believable evidence on the basis of which the wiretap authorization was obtained, there was no basis to interfere with the trial judge's decision that the interception of the private communications in question did not violate the accused's rights under s. 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982. There was also a foundation for the trial judge's reliance on the third party's evidence. As such, it could not be challenged on appeal. Furthermore, it could not be said that Chen's sentence was clearly excessive.
Ms. Chen can no longer practice law, but appears to be still involved in offering immigration services through the site: www.webimmigration.com.
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