Former Canucks draft pick Prabh (Prabhraj) Rai has been charged with large-scale fraud by the Surrey RCMP Financial Crimes unit (FCU, which conducted an investigation that has resulted in Rai being charged with fraud allegedly involving millions of dollars. On January 14, 2021, the Surrey FCU began an investigation into a fraud spanning from 2015 to 2021 after a victim came forward to police, alleging they had lost several million dollars in real-estate investment opportunities.

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada

SURREY – Former Canucks draft pick Prabh (Prabhraj) Rai has been charged with large scale fraud by the Surrey RCMP Financial Crimes unit (FCU, which conducted an investigation that has resulted in Rai being charged with fraud allegedly involving millions of dollars.

On January 14, 2021, the Surrey FCU began an investigation into a fraud spanning from 2015 to 2021 after a victim came forward to police, alleging they had lost several million dollars in real-estate investment opportunities.

Police gathered information and evidence as part of a long-term investigation and determined that between October 9, 2015 and July 20 2018, the 34-year-old man allegedly committed large scale financial frauds.

On November 21, 2023, Rai was arrested and charged with Fraud Over $5,000. Rai has been released by the courts on conditions while awaiting his next court appearance.

The charges come nearly two years after Surrey RCMP’s financial crime unit launched an investigation into Rai, when a person complained of losing several million dollars in fraudulent real-estate investment opportunities.

Rai is also facing a civil lawsuit filed against him by a realtor who alleges Rai purported to be a successful businessman with connections to retired hockey players and prominent businesspeople and induced him to transfer more than $2.8 million for real estate developments and other investments, reported Postmedia.

Harpreet Singh Khela alleges Rai’s schemes included the purchase of the Sutton Hotel in Vancouver, a Tim Hortons franchise and a San Diego development property.

He alleged Rai told him their ventures were profitable, then concealed the fraud by telling him a false story that the profits were frozen by the U.S. government and were unavailable.

Later, in October 2020, Khela alleged, Rai told him a “fantastical” tale about getting kidnapped and having his hard drive, which contained his bank account information, stolen, and that the money was gone.

In his response, Rai alleged Khela had been trying to ingratiate himself with Rai for many years, and that he made the “sweeping, unfounded allegations” against him and his family members when Rai tried to limit his involvement with him, reported Postmedia.

A civil trial is scheduled to begin early next year.

Rai was a fifth-round pick in the 2008 NHL draft. His hockey career came to an end after sustaining injuries in a car accident.