Over $900,000 will be returned to victims of an investment fraud, which is a record recovery in a single civil forfeiture case in British Columbia, the B.C. Ministry of Justice said Wednesday.

The government says that $928,769 has been recovered and will be shared among victims of a doctor who became an unqualified investment-pool operator. It says that the unnamed fraudster used investors’ funds to maintain a lavish lifestyle and buy valuable properties, moving funds among businesses, bank accounts and term deposits “in a manner consistent with money laundering”.

While the recovery represents only about one-third of the money raised in the scheme, qualifying victims will recoup approximately 70% of their original investments, with $400,000 of the recovered money going to nine B.C. residents and the rest shared among 12 claimants elsewhere in Canada, it notes.

B.C.’s Civil Forfeiture Act allows the provincial government to return forfeited funds to fraud victims who have a direct relationship with the money recovered. This is the fourth case resulting in a restoration of funds to fraud victims, all of which have resulted from a referral from the BC Securities Commission (BCSC) following enforcement action taken by the BCSC.

“Civil forfeiture’s value extends beyond deterring unlawful activity and depriving criminals of ill-gotten gains – as this case once again proves. It’s extremely positive to be able to return money to bona fide victims,” said attorney general and Minister of Justice, Suzanne Anton.

“Once again, collaborating with the Civil Forfeiture Office has helped to further our efforts to protect the interests of investors – in this case, a number of Canadians who had been defrauded of significant amounts,” added Brenda Leong, chair of the BCSC.

Overall, B.C.’s seven-year-old civil forfeiture program has recovered more than $31 million. Compensation occurs only in cases where a direct link exists between the forfeited funds and the financial loss suffered by eligible victims. Most of this total has gone to fund the activities of the program, it notes, but about $10.5 million has been invested in crime prevention efforts or returned to victims of fraud.