A murder case in China is raising big questions about how overseas money is flooding into Metro Vancouver’s real estate market.
This legal battle, which has been going on for nearly seven years, involves a wealthy Chinese businessman who was killed by another man in 2017.
Now, the family of the murdered man is accusing the killer of using $113 million of their money to buy expensive homes in Vancouver and Burnaby, instead of investing it in coal mines as promised.
The case focuses on several luxury houses bought in the 2010s, which are now part of a heated legal dispute.
The family of the deceased businessman claims that the killer, Long Ni, didn’t use the money for coal mines as he promised, but instead spent most of it on real estate.
After the murder, Ni was arrested in China and sentenced to death in 2020.
The lawsuit, currently ongoing in B.C. Supreme Court, involves five high-priced properties in wealthy Vancouver neighborhoods.
Ni allegedly bought them using his wife and daughter’s names, with the claim that they didn’t understand the business dealings.
This case is part of a much bigger issue: the flow of foreign money into Vancouver’s real estate market.
For years, China’s wealthy have been investing heavily in properties here, even though it’s illegal to move large amounts of money out of China.
The Vancouver real estate market has been greatly affected by this, with some people saying that it has driven up housing prices.
An immigration lawyer involved in the case, Sam Hyman, says that the situation raises a lot of concerns about how foreign money enters Canada, and how some wealthy families may have used illegal methods to get their money out of China.
The case also points to bigger problems in Canada’s real estate market. Many say the system isn’t doing enough to monitor the source of funds used to buy expensive properties.
This can lead to issues like tax avoidance and even money laundering.
The case, which is expected to go to trial in 2026, is costing Canadian taxpayers a lot of money, since it’s taking years to resolve.
So, while this legal drama continues, it’s also shining a light on some of the biggest problems facing Metro Vancouver’s real estate market today.