Toronto man who helped Iran evade sanctions used 3 identities, CBSA reveals | USAEMALL.com

On paper, Ameen Cohen is a 37-year-old banking professional with a business degree and a condo in Thornhill, Ont.

But that is only his latest identity.

At a deportation hearing in Toronto, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) revealed the Iranian citizen has used no less than three names throughout his life.

He arrived in Canada as Amin Yousefijam and prior to that he was Amin Riki. It also emerged that he was a Tehran police lieutenant during his compulsory military service.

CBSA officials said he legally changed his name to Cohen in Ontario in 2022 — without divulging that he had been convicted in the U.S. of helping Iran evade sanctions.

The new details about his evolving identity emerged last week at an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing that will decide whether he should be sent back to Iran.

Canadian immigration enforcement officials want to deport him on the grounds his role in an Iranian sanctions dodging scheme makes him a national security threat.

By illegally shipping sensitive equipment to Iran, he undermined Canada’s efforts to contain the dangers posed by the Islamic republic, the CBSA argued.

The Toronto resident contributed to “an increased security threat towards Canada in regards to terrorism and attack by nuclear weapons,” according to a CBSA report.

His actions “directly compromised” the Canadian government’s foreign policy on Iran’s authoritarian regime, which heads an “axis of resistance” that includes Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemens’ Houthis.

The case comes as the federal government is under pressure to prevent members and supporters of the repressive Iranian regime from using Canada as a safe haven.

At the hearing, he testified he was born Amin Riki but legally changed his name to Amin Yousefijam in Iran before arriving in Canada in 2016.

When the CBSA asked if he did so to hide from the past, he responded: “That’s your opinion.”

He said he simply didn’t like the way the name Riki sounded and Yousefijam was “the name that resonated with me the most.”

As Yousefijam, he was arrested in Toronto in January 2021 on U.S. charges alleging he shipped sensitive goods to Iran in violation of sanctions.

He was detained in Canada for 10 months before he was transported to Michigan, where he spent more than a month in custody, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served.

Asked by the CBSA if he was aware that pleading guilty meant admitting to his role in the conspiracy, he said he only entered a guilty plea because it was the fastest way to resolve the matter.

“It was not an admission of guilt,” he insisted.

Following his conviction in November 2021, Yousefijam was returned to Ontario, where he almost immediately applied to change his name to Ameen Cohen.

On his Ontario name change form, he ticked the “no” box in response to questions asking if he had a criminal record in Canada or elsewhere, the CBSA said.

Yousefijam testified that he had phoned an Ontario government information line and was told he only had to disclose convictions in Canada. He said he checked again recently and got the same response.

Following his testimony, however, Global News also phoned the Ontario government but was told convictions had to be disclosed no matter where they occurred.

“Disclosure of criminal convictions in both Canadian and other jurisdictions is required,” Joey Wu, a Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery spokesperson, confirmed.

The name change form warns applicants that, “It is a serious crime under the Criminal Code of Canada to make a false statement.”

Yousefijam denied he was trying to conceal his past and claimed he only changed his name because his surname was too long and caused him prejudice.

He said he chose the name Cohen because it had both English and Persian roots. “That was a personal decision that I made,” he said. “I picked a name that resonated with me the most.”

His brother Arash Yousefijam was also convicted in the sanctions conspiracy and changed his name to Aurash Cohen. He told Global News he did so because “we want to start a new life.”

Under the name Aurash Cohen, he became an Ontario dentist but was stripped of his licence last fall on the grounds he was required to disclose his criminal history “in any jurisdiction” with the province’s dental registry.

The Ontario government has said it was looking into its name change system as a result of the brothers.

“The ability to change one’s name should not be a loophole for evading justice,” the spokesperson for the minister responsible for the name change registry said.

“Allowing serious criminal offenders to conceal their identities not only undermines the integrity of our justice system but also poses a significant risk to our communities.”

The CBSA presented its case against Yousefijam during two days of hearings before a Refugee Board member who will decide whether to issue a deportation order.

Responding to questions posed by two CBSA officials, Yousefijam said he got involved in the sanctions scheme at the request of his brother Arash, an Iran-born naturalized Canadian he described as the leader of the conspiracy.

He said his brother was recently married and busy at the time, and asked Yousefijam to take on the logistical side of the operation. “He asked me to find a good price, basically, shipper,” he said.

He was close to his brother and considered it “a family obligation to help him out,” he said. But he later said he didn’t know where his brother now lived, and they spoke only through video chats.

Yousefijam denied knowing any operational details and said his role was limited to sending emails, first while living in Iran and later in Canada, after he arrived on a permanent resident visa.

The materials were shipped initially to the United Arab Emirates and then repackaged for transport to Iran — a tactic CBSA officials said was commonly used to evade sanctions.

While he has an MBA, Yousefijam said he was not familiar with international sanctions and money laundering regulations until he began a banking job in 2018.

The IRB’s was expected to rule on his deportation this summer.

Canada launched a crackdown on Iran in 2022 in response to the regime’s suppression of protests that erupted over the arrest and killing of Mahsa Amini, who was targeted for showing her hair in public.

To pressure Tehran, the government banned senior Iranian officials and members of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps from the country while vowing to deport those already here.

Since then, the CBSA has identified 18 alleged senior Iranian officials living in Canada. The IRB has issued deportation orders against two of them so far, Seyed Salman Samani and Majid Iranmanesh.

But the IRB has declined to expel two others, and the CBSA has withdrawn its case against another, Elham Zandi, an official said Monday.

Neither the IRB nor the CBSA would explain why.

In her Jan. 28 report on foreign interference, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue wrote that community members had told her Iranian officials “live openly and freely in Canada.”

The Iranian regime “wants to exert influence in Canada because there is a large and well-educated Iranian diaspora,” a witness, whose name was not released, told the inquiry.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca