The Canadian government has issued a deportation order for a businessman tied to the Sooke Harbour House in connection with his alleged involvement in a U.S. Ponzi scheme.
Timothy Durkin is a permanent resident of Canada who holds British citizenship and has been living in Sooke.
His immigration status was in jeopardy because he was indicted in 2013 by a Grand Jury in Alabama, along with three others, for an alleged conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.
The others were convicted and received 60-month sentences. Durkin faced the same 20 criminal counts but according to a U.S. Court of Appeals decision “fled the country and has yet to be apprehended.”
In November 2017, Durkin was served a notice from the Canadian government advising him that he was the subject of an admissibility review because of the claims that he had defrauded investors out of millions of dollars through the creation of a Ponzi scheme in Alabama between 2009 and 2012.
He applied for and was granted several extensions to provide submissions. Hearings were held in late 2020 before a decision dated Jan. 18 was released.
Durkin disputed his involvement and claimed he and his company were unsuspecting pawns in the scam.
In February 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice in Alabama dismissed all criminal charges against Durkin for a number of reasons, including the fact Durkin had lived in New York at the time and did not meet or deal with any of the investors in Alabama.
However, in his…
