Former Canucks draft pick accused of multi-million-dollar fraud

A former Vancouver Canucks prospect is facing criminal charges on allegations of “large scale financial frauds.”

In a media release Wednesday, Surrey RCMP said Prabhraj Rai was arrested Tuesday and charged with fraud over $5,000.

Mounties said they began the investigation in January 2021 “after a victim came forward to police, alleging they had lost several million dollars in real estate investment opportunities.”

1:07 Shakira dodges $15 million tax fraud charge after making deal with Spanish prosecutors

Police said their investigation found Rai, 34, conducted the frauds between October 2015 and July 2018.

A civil suit filed in 2020 claims Rai defrauded a Vancouver man of more than $2.9 million through a series of bogus business ventures, alleging Rai presented himself as a “successful and wealthy businessperson” with connections to international business people and retired hockey players.

None of those allegations have been proven in court, and the RCMP’s financial crimes unit did not make a connection between the two cases.

The Canucks drafted Rai in the fifth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, while he was playing as a forward for the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds.

Rai never ended up playing with the NHL club however, and ended his hockey career in 2015 playing for the ECHL Evansville Icemen.