Former Vancouver Canuck's prospect facing $3,000,000 lawsuit

PUBLICATION

S. Harper
August 31, 2022 (9:35)

SHARE THIS STORY

It's every child's dream to get drafted to the NHL, but just because you get drafted doesn't mean you're going to be successful at the NHL level. Sometimes players never find their way to the pro ranks. That's the case for former Vancouver Canucks draft pick Prabh Rai who was selected in the 2008 NHL draft, in the 5th round, 131st overall. Rai spent most of his career in the ECHL until he stopped playing hockey in 2015.

Unfortunately for the former Canucks pick, Rai is now in trouble with the law. Allegations have come to light that he defrauded a Vancouver-based realtor out of nearly $3 million dollars. Rai has had all of his earned income and assets frozen while he's being investigated for fraud.

From The Province newspaper:

A B.C. judge has frozen the assets of a former Vancouver Canucks draft pick who is being sued over allegations he defrauded a realtor of more than $2.8 million.

Harpreet Singh Khela, the realtor, claims that Prabh Rai, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 NHL draft, created an image that he's a successful and wealthy business person, claiming to have important connections with prominent local and international business people and retired hockey players.

He says that Rai provided phoney emails, financial statements, agreements and documents from those prominent business people and retired professional hockey players in order to get him to transfer more than $2.8 million for real estate developments and other investments.

Khela claims when he tried to get the truth from Rai regarding these investments that Rai came up with a "fantastical" story stating that he was robbed of all his online banking information and had been left penniless.

More from The Province:

It was at this point that Khela began looking more closely at Rai's business ventures, prompting a lawsuit.

Prabh Rai's stories to Khela about the profits earned by their business ventures were a lie.

Prabh Rai told these false stories for the purpose of preventing Khela from commencing legal proceedings to trace and recover the funds that he advanced to Prabh Rai.

BC Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick has frozen Rai's assets ahead of the lawsuit, However, Fitzpatrick noted that only substantive assets in Rai's name are two Lamborghinis with a combined value of $1.2 million. In other words, the guy is a completely broke who only owns two lambos... allegedly.