Copyright 2008, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Originally published in Blakes Bulletin on Competition, July 2008
The Competition Bureau announced on July 30, 2008, that three Canadians who operated a deceptive telemarketing scheme based in Toronto, which purported to offer credit cards to Americans for a fee but never delivered the cards, have been found guilty and sentenced in the U.S. Two of the three have been sentenced to a combined 42 years in prison by the U.S. Federal Court in the Southern District of Illinois; sentencing for the third will be later this year.
The accused were arrested in 2002 following an investigation led by the Competition Bureau, and which involved law enforcement agencies from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. The U.S. made a formal request to the Canadian Minister of Justice in 2003 for their extradition. The accused were finally extradited in 2007 after exhausting all levels of appeal.
The extraditions have set a clear precedent in Canada – it is the first time that a Competition Bureau investigation has led to an extradition. Given the cross-border and international effects of many breaches of competition law and the co-operation of law enforcement agencies across borders, extraditions between Canada and other countries for violations of the Competition Act may continue in the future.
Further details of this case are available at the Competition Bureau's Web site at: http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/en/02717e.html.
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