The co-owner of a Vancouver student homestay service wants a court to order her former business partner to pay up more than $400,000 she claims was misappropriated from the business.
Neighbours Shannon Louise Green Griffith and Jasbir King started Vancouver Central Homestay (VCH) in 2006.
“This was an ongoing and elaborate fraud perpetrated against VCH,” a Nov. 14 B.C. Supreme Court application said.
In her Nov. 14 petition to the court, Griffith said VCH worked with overseas agencies to place international students and young professionals with homestay families while they attended local schools or sought work.
The partners had agreed VCH would pay them quarterly based on profits. Griffith drew more as she had to handle student guardianship arrangements.
The petition said King was responsible for bookkeeping, financial and payment functions, including sending and receiving payments from agencies and host families.
In October 2022, King, a law firm paralegal, went on holiday leaving Griffith to handle finances. Looking at the bank account Nov. 1, 2022, she found it contained significantly less than she expected.
The petition said a bank printout showed $313,090 in unexplained transfers to King. And, Griffith found $93,551 in transfers to Gigadat, an online gambling platform.
She found the account was $160,000 short, leaving VCH unable to meet its payment obligations, the petition said.
The two arranged to meet in person to discuss the situation.
“One of about Nov. 2, 2022, King admitted to sending herself e-transfers on almost a daily basis for years and that she had misappropriated an estimated $300,000 from VCH for her personal use,” the petition said.
The next day, a bank officer said the institution was unable to identify the recipient of the Gigadat transfers. Griffith suggested those transfers were intended for King.
The petition accuses King of fraudulently misappropriating funds.
Griffith is seeking a freezing of King’s assets, including her Vancouver home, until the case is resolved.
The application said, “King is experienced in this area of law and would be well versed in how to defeat creditors.”
And, it added, “King has admitted to having a gambling addiction and there is a real risk she will continue to gamble using her assets.”
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
