An extradition hearing for a woman wanted on fraud and money laundering charges in San Diego has been delayed to the end of February.
The hearing for Sheida Arabi, also known as Sheida Alan, was supposed to begin Jan. 11, but B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker said Wednesday the date had been moved because of a disclosure order.
Arabi’s lawyers have scheduled a three-day abuse of process application for Feb. 26-28. Ker said it is not mandatory for Arabi to attend that, but she must attend the Feb. 29-March 1 committal hearing.
Arabi, her older brother Karim Arabi, Sanjiv Taneja and Ali Akbar Shokouhi were charged under a July 2021 grand jury indictment that was unsealed in August 2022 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Karim Arabi, who was a Qualcomm research and development vice-president, created a company called Abreezio with another Qualcomm vice-president, Taneja, as a "vehicle to commercialize new design for test technology provisionally patented by Arabi” while he worked at Qualcomm, the indictment said.
When Qualcomm acquired Abreezio and the microchip technology on Oct. 30, 2015 for US$150 million, Sheida Arabi received more than US$91 million. She was in the middle of her 2014 to 2016 master’s degree studies in Vancouver.
Authorities claim that Karim Arabi not only sold technology to Qualcomm that it already owned, but that he falsely portrayed his sister as an active participant in Abreezio’s formation and development.
Meanwhile, a Canadian wanted in the U.S. for selling drugs on the dark web under pseudonyms made his latest appearance by video on Wednesday before Ker.
Court heard that James Ellingson’s extradition hearing in B.C. Supreme Court is scheduled for three days beginning April 10.
Elllingson was arrested in Vancouver in 2018 and is wanted for trial by the Southern District of New York on charges of narcotics trafficking conspiracy, narcotics importation conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
U.S. authorities allege that Ellingson, between 2011 and 2013, sold more than four kilograms of methamphetamine, 100 grams of heroin, two kilograms of cocaine, six grams of LSD, seven kilograms of ecstasy and 19 kilograms of marijuana on the Silk Road online black market.
Ellingson, is accused of operating under the handles “redandwhite,” “MarijuanaIsMyMuse” and “Lucydrop,” and allegedly received US$600,000 in bitcoin to plot the murders of five people on behalf of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht (aka “Dread Pirate Roberts”). U.S. authorities say there is no evidence that the murders happened.
Conviction on the drug counts is punishable with a sentence of between 10 years and life each and money laundering has a maximum 30 year sentence.
The FBI shut down Silk Road 10 years ago. Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison and ordered to forfeit almost US$184 million.
