assisted in laundering dirty money worth more than $14 million, and has therefore been suspended from practice for three months. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $35,209.83 to the authority.
“This panel cannot definitively conclude that money laundering occurred, but it is not our role to make that determination,” the decision read. “Nevertheless, if money laundering did in fact occur, it could not have happened without the participation and assistance of the respondent [Louie Yen], however inadvertent such assistance may have been.”
The panel further noted that she ignored a multitude of obvious red flags, and “utterly failed in fulfilling her duty as gatekeeper of her firm’s trust accounts”.
Moreover, the panel noted that it was left feeling “troubled” over the fact that Louie Yen promised not to repeat this behaviour, and yet, continued to represent the client in question. Meanwhile, the Vancouver lawyer claims that Cantonese-speaking clients were facing difficulties in finding someone to represent them if she were to be suspended. However, the panel pointed out that protecting the public and deterring others from following her example is of greater importance.
The disciplinary decision revealed that the client in question, who is based in Hong Kong, commissioned Louie Yen to…
