A man who says he was scammed by a Whitehorse immigration consultant claims the Yukon government failed to investigate the situation in a timely manner.

Wenbin Zhang filed a lawsuit against the Yukon government on Jan. 22.

This is the second civil action filed by Zhang related to the Yukon Business Nominee Program. His initial statement of claim in 2025 named six defendants including immigration consultant Maggie Ozen, her husband and their respective businesses.

Zhang claims that Ozen, under the guise of helping Zhang maneuver the Yukon Business Nominee Program, funnelled his money into her husband’s business instead. Zhang claims he was scammed out of nearly $600,000. Zhang ultimately did not qualify for permanent residency and now resides in Montreal.

Now, Zhang has filed a new lawsuit claiming the Yukon government failed to share relevant information with him, and protect him from substantial financial risk as the business nominee program’s administrator.

Zhang says he signed a Yukon Business Nominee Program performance agreement in 2023.

The business nominee program, run by the Yukon government in partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, offers foreigners a two-year work permit during which they must purchase or open and run a business in the territory. Should they meet program requirements, the Yukon government will nominate them for permanent residency. 

According to Zhang’s earlier lawsuit, he and his husband decided to emigrate from China, where homosexuality is illegal, “in search of a better life and one free from persecution.”

Ozen submitted Zhang’s business nominee program application as his immigration consultant.

The department accepted his application and other documents, and repeatedly failed to investigate or verify them, despite multiple red flags “that any reasonable regulator ought to have identified and further investigated,” Zhang alleges. 

For example, he says Ozen enlisted her husband as Zhang’s “Canadian business partner” without telling Zhang. He alleges department officers didn’t tell him either, nor did they flag the potential conflict of interest.

Zhang says the project budget also “increased irrationally” and his additional investments went to property assets owned by Ozen’s husband. Zhang says program officers also accepted the business plan Ozen provided, even though it included large capital costs with little cash leftover for operating expenses.

The government also failed to catch that Ozen had used Zhang’s same signature on multiple documents without verifying whether Zhang had actually signed all of them. Zhang says he discovered later that the documents had been forged.

Zhang continues that the government did not launch an investigation after he raised concerns and withheld documents that would have provided him with a clearer picture of the situation.

Zhang alleges these examples constitute “serious operational negligence” from the government.

“Despite knowing that the project file contained serious legal and structural defects, the [government] continued to advance the approval process,” the statement of claim says.

Zhang says if he had been given all of the information, he would not have continued investing in the situation.

Zhang is seeking damages of $556,843 to recoup his investment and a declaration that his business nominee program agreement is void. 

None of the allegations have been tested in court.