Oh look, Freeland is finally getting ahead of a story; Ottawa ties Wealth One founders to possible Chinese interference (paywalled)

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has alleged, in documents filed in federal court, that three principal shareholders in Wealth One Bank of Canada were vulnerable to coercion by China’s ruling Communist Party and may have engaged in money laundering as part of Beijing’s foreign-interference operations in this country.

Lawyers for three of the bank’s founders went to court last year to seek a judicial review of Ms. Freeland’s April, 2023, decision to order them to divest their shares in Wealth One, a Schedule 1 bank established in 2016 that caters to Chinese-Canadian clients. A Schedule 1 bank in Canada is considered a domestic institution, not a subsidiary of a foreign bank, and is authorized to accept deposits and provide mortgages.

The businessmen had requested that the case be subject to a sealed confidentiality order and that the proceedings be held in camera, but earlier this summer, they withdrew their motion and the confidentiality order was recently lifted.

The trio’s team of lawyers had originally argued that publication of their appeal could ruin the bank and jeopardize their clients’ investment in it. Collectively they own 73.4 per cent of the bank’s common shares, according to a May, 2023, filing, where they also placed the estimated value of this stake at $94-million.

In letters to the key shareholders beginning in December of 2022, obtained from the proceedings in federal court, Ms. Freeland raised concerns that the “Chinese Communist Party and the government of the PRC may use Wealth One Bank to further objectives that are detrimental to Canada’s national security.”

She noted that China’s consul-general in Toronto had advised Chinese Canadians to bank with Wealth One, “a statement likely intended to be interpreted as a Beijing command among Canadians of Chinese descent.” Moreover, Ms. Freeland said there are grounds to suspect that the three men were allegedly involved in money laundering.

Because the trio controlled nearly 75 per cent of the bank’s common shares and are suspected of money laundering, Ms. Freeland raised concerns that they could serve as proxies to funnel money through Wealth One on behalf of the Chinese government.

The three individuals in their court filings denied the allegations made by Ms. Freeland, arguing that they were unfairly targeted “due to the rise in geopolitical tensions with China” that, they say, led to “an unwarranted challenge to their loyalties to Canada.”

@Panopticonomy – Well, my bet is that @cafreeland gave old Liberal MP Sousa @SousaCharles quick call too. You know, since he worked at Wealth One in a very senior leadership position before grabbing that MP job.