A Taiwanese couple implicated in a NT$1 billion (US$32.5 million) financial fraud case have applied for refugee status with Canadian authorities, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials said yesterday.
Taipei prosecutors on Tuesday applied to have prominent cosmetic doctor Paul Huang (黃博健), 38, and his wife, Internet celebrity Su Chen Tuan (蘇陳端), 44, better known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), extradited from Canada.
The couple allegedly boarded a flight from Taiwan to San Francisco on Nov. 30 where they met with Huang’s aunt, father, Huang Li-hsiung (黃立雄), and his father’s wife, MOFA officials said.
The five allegedly headed to the Great Lakes region, then drove from Buffalo, New York, to Canada on Saturday last week, the officials said, adding that they tried to cross the border at Fort Erie in Canada.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers reportedly flagged them down, but Paul Huang presented a document saying that he had permanent residence status.
The officials said that CBSA officers then allowed them to cross the border, as all five also had tourist visas for Canada.
Paul Huang, Su and Huang Li-hsiung allegedly then claimed that they were being persecuted by Taiwanese authorities and filed an application for refugee status at the CBSA office in Fort Erie.
The couple have been accused of defrauding clients and friends of about NT$1 billion, some of whom had invested in Ab Initio Medicina, an upscale cosmetic surgery clinic in Taipei, and two other businesses operated by the couple.
Investigators said that the couple planned their escape after transferring the money into foreign bank accounts.
The officials said the passports of Paul Huang, Su and Huang Li-hsiung were invalidated on Thursday after prosecutors issued an international wanted bulletin for the couple.
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