“Amicus International Consulting is the expert you need if you wish to live a life of anonymity.”
Clients can get ‘new identities’ from a Vancouver firm. Chinese criminals have been among its clients. “If you want to live a life of obscurity, Amicus Intranational Consulting is the specialist you need.” Ian Young’s Hongcouver is a collection of short stories set in Hong Kong. On February 24, 2017.
On September 24, 2015, Kuang Wan Fang had been led away from Changle Airport in Fuzhou after coming from the United States on a forced repatriation flight. Kuang is a client of Amicus International, a Vancouver-based firm that assisted him in obtaining Spanish citizenship while imprisoned in the United States. Xinhua News Agency Amicus International Consulting, based in Vancouver, focuses on providing clients with anonymity through “new legal identities.” New citizenships and second passports aren’t the only things on the table; credible cover stories are also. Amicus International Consulting provides clients with online accounts that are “consistent… across all major social networking websites.” It also offers ideas on how to stay true to their “legend,” such as how to imitate an accent without drawing suspicion.
According to the company, it also organizes the transfer of prisoners detained in foreign countries. Who would need such a one-of-a-kind combination of services?
“Extreme confidentiality” is promised by the firm. However, Amicus claims that two Chinese fraudsters were engaged in the theft of more than US$485 million from the Bank of China, which was laundered through the Vancouver real estate markets and Las Vegas casinos between 1991 and 2004 according to case studies on its website.
In 2009, a federal court in Nevada sentenced Kuang Wan Fang and Yu Ying Yi, the wives of two BOC managers who were the key players in the fraud, to eight years in jail apiece (their husbands each received sentences of more than 20 years, and are still imprisoned in the US). But it was being transported back to China, where they may face the death penalty, that Kuang and Yu feared the most.
Amicus International Consulting claims to have assisted Kuang and Yu in obtaining Spanish citizenship. At the same time, they were incarcerated in the United States and then arranged for their relocation to Spain through a prisoner treaty transfer in 2011. The firm’s website states, “We design solutions for clients that find themselves in highly unique and tough circumstances.”
Kuang’s journey, however, did not finish there, and the obstacles she faced were far from over. She was carried off to China in a chartered Gulfstream plane on September 24, 2015, and handcuffed by Chinese officers.
What is Amicus International Consulting, and what do they do?
Amicus International Consulting did not reply to numerous requests for an interview about its services from the South China Morning Post. In British Columbia, no corporation with the name “Amicus International Consulting” or any evident variation is registered, though it could be registered elsewhere or operate as a numbered company. The firm could not be found at the Burnaby street address indicated on its website, either.
Despite this, the firm has an extensive website and social media presence, including a frequently updated Facebook page and LinkedIn and Pinterest profiles.” Anonymous life, while challenging at first, is possible with proper planning and competent guidance,” according to the website. “If you want to live a life of obscurity, Amicus International Consulting is the specialist you need.”
The company’s name comes from the Latin word “friend. The organization asserts that its services are legal numerous times, cautioning potential clients that “using a stolen, counterfeit, cloned, borrowed, or altered identity is precarious.”Instead, it offers to assist in acquiring a new passport through various citizenship-for-sale schemes around the world, which is a legal and ubiquitous service.
Other components of Amicus’ services are more strange, and they sound like they were plucked from a spy craft manual.” Your ‘legend’ is the background material that will ‘flesh-out’ your identity and guarantee it is convincing,” the corporation recommends on its website.“You should be conversant with primary politics and news in your native country if your legend is a nationality other than your own…
You don’t want to be caught because someone asks what school you went to in your cover’s hometown. You can’t name it or its mascot because you’re visiting Japan as a South Korean and have nothing to say about the Dokdo/Takeshima islands controversy or because you incorrectly refer to them for your nationality.”
“You should be able to imitate your legend’s accent without going overboard and causing suspicion if he or she speaks with a different accent than you do.” Learn how locals pronounce city names, especially if you have a regional or local accent (for example, if you’re from the area, it’s not ‘Baltimore,’ but rather ‘Ballimer’).”
“As long as it fits with your legend, don’t be hesitant to draw on your personal experience.” The most compelling stories are the true ones. When you can, tell the truth. It goes a long way toward making your legend more credible.”
“Basic information about your legend should flow naturally and without reluctance. Your date of birth, career, residence and address, house details, favorite drink, meal, or place to eat at home, and so on.”
Christine Duhaime is a lawyer and anti-money-laundering expert from Vancouver who represents China’s CITIC Bank in Canada in its search for illicit funds in other countries. She highlighted that changing one’s identity was “absolutely legal” – but only with the government’s permission. “The government recognizes you like the new you, and it will provide you with new identity documents and authorize you to apply for a new passport under your new name,” she explained. “A Chinese foreign national would first have to undergo a legal name change in China, after which they would be able to live in Spain or wherever they desired under their new name.” [However,] I cannot see how assuming an entirely new identity without the consent of the person’s government is legal because without that consent, every document presented for identification, and correspondingly, every document that person signs as the new non-legal fictitious person would appear to me to be identity fraud. “Every fugitive and the criminal would do it, and it would be easy if it were allowed to take a new identity without the agreement of the country in which you are a citizen and without the home country issuing new identification documents.”
Kuang and Yu, Amicus’ clients, were Chinese nationals who had become naturalized US citizens. However, the US Department of Justice stated that they were being denaturalized when they were sentenced on May 6, 2009. It’s unknown if they were deported from the United States before or after obtaining Spanish citizenship. According to Duhaime, Amicus’ services could be perfectly legal. “If the service comprises advising foreign nationals on how to register legally for a new identity in their own country and then relocate under that identity once accepted, then appears to me to be legal.”
However, she went on to say that she had “never heard of such a service.” “It is not a costly process to legally alter one’s name,” she continued. Amicus charges customers a consultation fee of C$600, followed by C$300 per hour.
The identity of the company’s owner is unknown.
However, a LinkedIn profile in the company’s name shows a photo of a stern-looking man at a desk, whose experience and qualifications include:
- More than five years in the US State Department’s diplomatic security service.
- Nearly 12 years in the US Army.
- A Brazilian law degree.
- A certificate program in immigration law at the University of British Columbia.
“They appear to be delivering legal advice to the public,” Duhaime said, adding that this necessitated having a lawyer on staff who is admitted to the British Columbia Bar.
Kuang Wan Fang’s case is an example of this.
Amicus claims to have a steady stream of customers. “Over the years, we’ve assisted hundreds of people, and we’re quite good at what we do.” Kuang and Yu were reportedly among them, and their case was well-known for the large sums of money stolen. The self-proclaimed role of Amicus in their case, however, has never been published before this article exposed them.
From 1991 until their arrest in the United States in 2004, Kuang’s spouse, Xu Chaofan, and Yu’s husband, Xu Guojun, were involved in a major scheme to defraud their employer, the Bank of China. They made off with at least US$485 million with the help of a third BOC manager. They escaped to the United States via Vancouver, obtained US citizenship, and laundered their money through Canadian and Hong Kong banks, Macau and Las Vegas casinos, and the real estate markets in Vancouver and Toronto.
The scammers used the stolen money to buy at least three Richmond houses on Udy Road and Mang Road, which are now valued at nearly C$19.5 million, according to the US indictment that could lead to all of them being convicted.
Amicus International Consulting reportedly assisted in the transfer of Kuang and Yu to Spanish custody on September 23 and September 11, 2011; the US Federal Bureau of Prisons admits that they did indeed leave US custody on those dates, though their final destination is unknown.
Kuang’s whereabouts between 2011 and 2015 remain unknown. Meanwhile, according to The Province newspaper’s account of the case, the BC Supreme Court ruled on April 16, 2015, that Kuang must repay BOC the entire stolen sum, now valued at C$670 million, which the RCMP said had been hidden and dispersed among 14 relatives, many of whom lived in the Vancouver area.
If you are serious about “disappearing” and starting a new life, then it’s time to contact Amicus International consulting and let us handle the details.
