Toronto Lawyer and Beijing Associate Ordered to Pay Over $1 Million for Allegedly Mishandling Clients’ Funds
A Toronto lawyer, now suspended, has been mandated by an Ontario court to compensate two sets of clients with over $1 million. They sued him for withholding proceeds from the sales of their property and business.
Ping Tan, a retired individual, has been a well-known figure in the Toronto Chinese community and a longtime supporter of the Toronto Chinese consulate.
Recently, Tan was suspended from practicing law in April. This decision by the Law Society of Ontario came after a former client reported that Tan failed to return over $500,000 owed from selling the client’s property and business. Tan informed the Law Society during their investigation that he had retired and notified his clients that his firm had closed down.
Tan did not respond to a lawsuit from one of the clients in March, leading an Ontario Superior Court judge to find him in default and order him to repay the client the outstanding amount. According to a CBC News report, Tan has not yet made the payment.
Tan is now facing two more lawsuits. One case involves a claim of not returning $550,000 from a property sale before closing his law firm. In another case, he is accused of “fraud, theft, and misappropriation” for holding onto $216,000 in a similar situation, as per the National Post.
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During a visit to Canada in 2007, Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese consulate official in Sydney who defected in 2005, claimed that the NCCC is at the apex of a network of groups established by Chinese diplomatic missions in Canada to influence the Chinese community and Canadian authorities. Despite such claims, the NCCC refuted the allegations and criticized Chen for his statements.
According to former CSIS senior manager Michel Juneau-Katsuya, CTCCO, an organization often lauded by Chinese officials, has been associated with Chinese diplomats and special events. CTCCO has not responded to previous requests for comments.
Tan is recognized for establishing several Chinese-affiliated organizations in Canada that are linked to Beijing’s UFWD, a key foreign interference tool of the Chinese government, as per a 2020 analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute referenced by Public Safety Canada.
In 2018, the UFWD merged with the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, a bureau under China’s State Council responsible for influencing Chinese diaspora communities.
Tan has held legal advisory roles in UFWD-supervised organizations, including the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, as reported by Chinese state media People’s Daily. A press release from the organization on Jan. 10 identified Tan as an “overseas member” of the legal advisory committee and mentioned his hosting of a visiting vice chairperson from China.
In 2000, Tan played a pivotal role in establishing the Chinese Canadians for China’s Reunification in Toronto and has been its chairman since 2017. Additionally, he founded a similar group, the Canadian Alliance for China’s Peaceful Reunification, in 2001. His contributions were commended in a January article by a Chinese United Front organization overseen by Wang Huning, a senior official in the Chinese Communist Party.
Tan’s organizations have actively protested against Canada’s stance on Beijing’s human rights violations and related actions. This includes issuing a joint statement in March 2021, condemning Canadian MPs for passing a motion recognizing China’s mistreatment of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims as genocide.
In a statement from June 2019, one of the organizations also denounced participants in a major pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. The Chinese government faced significant international backlash for its harsh treatment of protesters, including the use of firearms and other weaponry.
