Ex-Canucks player Prab Rai arrested, charged with fraud allegedly involving millions
Former Vancouver Canucks draft pick Prab Rai was arrested on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old ex-pro hockey player has been charged with fraud, allegedly involving millions of dollars, following an investigation by the Surrey RCMP Financial Crimes Unit (FCU).
The investigation began nearly three years ago, on January 14, 2021.
“The Surrey FCU began an investigation into a fraud spanning from 2015 to 2021 after a victim came forward to police, alleging they had lost several million dollars in real estate investment opportunities,” Surrey RCMP said in a media release.
Police said they determined that Rai had committed “large-scale financial frauds” between October 9, 2015, and July 20, 2018. The former Canuck has been released by the courts on conditions, as he awaits his next court appearance.
Rai also faced allegations of defrauding a realtor of more than $2.8 million in a civil lawsuit according to an article written by Keith Fraser in the Vancouver Sun on August 29, 2022 . The realtor reportedly claimed that Rai positioned himself as a “successful and wealthy business person” with “important connections with prominent local and international business people and retired hockey players.”
The Canucks selected Rai, a hometown product from Surrey, in the fifth round (131st overall) of the 2008 draft. The 6-foot-1 centre starred for the Seattle Thunderbirds, leading the team in scoring during his final WHL season with 69 points in 67 games. Rai showed enough potential in junior that the Canucks signed him to an entry-level contract on March 24, 2010.
Months after signing his first NHL contract, Rai suffered a serious back injury in a car accident on the Port Mann Bridge. It derailed his career at age 20. He went on to play just 38 games of pro hockey, all in the ECHL, before having to retire at 25 years old.
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