A B.C. resident has been ordered to pay over $600,000 after committing fraud through a real estate scheme.

The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) has ordered Cherie Evangeline White and her company Kingdom Investments to pay $626,000 in financial sanctions.

In a Monday media release, the BCSC described the fraud as “consistent with a Ponzi scheme.”

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White told investors they would get a return of 10 to 30 per cent on their investments after about six months and that the housing they invested in would be provided to those in need, including people experiencing addiction, according to the BCSC.

But instead, she used the funds to buy residential properties and then flip them for profit, money she then used to pay back earlier investors, the BCSC said.

She commonly used her faith to attract investors by connecting with them on spiritual values and using faith-related imagery, according to the commission.

White also created a sense of urgency for investors, and in one case accompanied an investor to the bank to make sure they invested. Bank staff told the individual not to invest, but she convinced them to anyway, according to the BCSC.

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In total Kingdom Investments distributed over $1 million in securities to 24 different investors without proper documentation and details of those investments. Investors suffered losses of about $776,000 as a result of the “fraud and illegal distribution,” the commission said.

The BCSC said White obstructed justice by failing to provide documents and information asked for by the BCSC. It also said she and her company did not show remorse for their actions or acknowledge the damage they caused.

She has been banned from participating in B.C.’s investment market unless she is the one investing in a company. Her company was banned from trading its shares or promoting the business.