The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced that Richmond, British Columbia-area resident, Eric Ho (also known as Eric Siu-Kei Ho and Pat Lee) was sentenced to 30 months of jail time and fined a total of $122,367, representing the taxes he evaded, after Ho plead guilty of failing to report taxable income. He also pleaded guilty to one count of counselling others to commit fraud in excess of $5,000.
The Paradigm Education Group educator has been on the run for more than a decade after failing to attend his first court appearance in March 2012. Ho surrendered himself on August 11, 2022 and was granted release on bail the following month. According to the CRA, courts can impose fines between 50 per cent and 200 per cent of the tax evaded, a jail term of up to five years for tax evasion and up to 14 years for tax fraud.
“From 2002 to 2010, Mr. Ho taught interested individuals, known as students, the Paradigm theory which is based on the faulty premise that if an individual declares themselves as a natural person, they do not become a taxpayer under the Income Tax Act,” the CRA states in its announcement. “Mr. Ho received income in his role as an educator, including through Paradigm materials sold, which included DVDs, CDs and books on how to structure one’s affairs according to Paradigm theory.”
