Omid Tahvili ( fa, امید تحویلی; born on 31 October 1970, in
Kermanshah, Iran
Kermanshah ( fa, کرمانشاه, Kermânšâh ), also known as Kermashan (; romanized: Kirmaşan), is the capital of Kermanshah Province, located from Tehran in the western part of Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population is 946,68 ...
[) is an ]Iranian-Canadian
Iranian Canadians or Persian Canadians are citizens of Canada whose national background is traced from Iran or are people possessing Iranian and Canadian dual citizenship. From the 2016 Canadian census, the main communities can be found in Southe ...
sexual offender and kingpin of an organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
family in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
which is connected to various international crime organizations.Forbes.com
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family (publishers), Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing ...
, after consulting with law enforcement agencies around the world, listed him as one of the world's ten most wanted fugitives.[
]
Criminal activities
Drugs
According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(RCMP), Tahvili came to Canada from Iran in 1994.cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
, in a joint operation between the Vancouver Police and the RCMP. Tahvili was found not guilty. By 2003, the RCMP recognized Tahvili as heading up one of the main criminal organizations operating out of an Iranian community in Canada. At that time, dozens of Iranian expatriates were working under him.[
]
Fraud
From 1999 to 2002, he ran a fraudulent telemarketing
Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequen ...
business that targeted people in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, stealing approximately US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
3 million from hundreds of victims, most of them elderly.[ A federal arrest warrant was issued for Tahvili on January 30, 2003 by the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, where he was charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, telemarketing fraud and ]aiding and abetting
Aiding and abetting is a legal doctrine related to the guilt of someone who aids or abets (encourages, incites) another person in the commission of a crime (or in another's suicide). It exists in a number of different countries and generally allo ...
.
Tahvili was arrested in British Columbia on an extradition warrant and Tahvili was eventually ordered extradited to the United States of America by the British Columbia Supreme Court on May 4, 2007. Tahvili had been represented by Canadian criminal and extradition lawyer Amandeep Singh, known for his representation of high profile and controversial international clientele such as billionaire banker fugitive Rakesh Saxena
Rakesh Saxena (born 13 July 1952, at Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India) is an Indian convicted criminal, financier and trader in the Derivative (finance), derivatives market. He is accused of embezzlement in the 1990s from his work as treasury advi ...
. Tahvili appealed his extradition order to the British Columbia Court of Appeal and was awaiting his appeal when he absconded from the pre-trial facility where he was held.
Escape and conviction
In 2005, Tahvili discovered that Can$
The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...
300,000 of his organization's drug money went missing, and suspected that a courier who worked for him stole it and fled to Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. Tahvili kidnapped the man's brother-in-law, sexually assaulted him, and interrogated him over several hours.[ The man was eventually let go and Tahvili was arrested soon after. Since July 2005, Tahvili had awaited trial in the maximum-security North Fraser Pretrial Centre in ]British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
until he escaped in November 2007 after bribing a Corrections Officer named Edwin Ticne.[ On August 8, 2008, Ticne was sentenced to three years and three months jail time for aiding in his escape.]Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
, and remains an international fugitive.[
]
See also
* List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahvili, Omid
1970 births
21st-century Canadian criminals
21st-century Iranian criminals
Canadian crime bosses
Canadian escapees
Canadian fraudsters
Canadian gangsters
Canadian male criminals
Canadian rapists
Canadian white-collar criminals
Confidence tricksters
Crime bosses
Escapees from Canadian detention
Fugitives wanted by Canada
Fugitives wanted by the United States
Fugitives wanted on fraud charges
Fugitives wanted on kidnapping charges
Fugitives wanted on organised crime charges
Fugitives wanted on sex crime charges
Iranian criminals
Iranian emigrants to Canada
Iranian escapees
Iranian fraudsters
Iranian gangsters
Iranian rapists
Iranian white-collar criminals
Living people
People from Kermanshah
People from Tehran