Family’s lawyer may try to get cash found in killer’s Richmond condo

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The lawyer for the family of a man strangled during a botched kidnapping in 2015 may sue for money recently found in a condo the paroled killer shared with his wife.

Attorney Mark Thompson said he learned from a recent Postmedia News article that police found tens of thousands of dollars along with chemicals used to make fentanyl and methamphetamine in the Richmond waterfront condo where killer Tian Yi lived ( Eddie) Zhang after getting out of prison last time. fall.

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Thompson represents the parents of Peng Sun, who was accidentally strangled with a leash around his neck while Zhang held him for ransom in a North Vancouver basement in September 2015.

In August 2020, Thompson won a judgment from the British Columbia Supreme Court on behalf of his clients Cang Sun and Hua Li, ordering Zhang and others involved in the kidnapping to pay nearly $400,000 to the parents.

Most of the cash ($306,772) was “for ransom money paid to Tian Yi (Eddie) Zhang.”

Thompson said none of the money has been paid to the parents, who live in China.

Last month, Postmedia reported on a lawsuit filed by British Columbia’s director of civil forfeiture against Zhang and his wife Ya Ran Li, seeking the forfeiture of Li’s condominium worth $3.2 million, plus $53,650 found during a police search on December 20, 2023.

Also located in the fifth-floor unit were boxes of precursor chemicals, lab equipment and a money-counting machine, which the director said are all “instruments of criminal activity.”

Neither Zhang nor Li have been charged, but the Parole Board of Canada ordered Zhang to move to a rehabilitation center because of the new allegations.

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Zhang filed a response to the government’s lawsuit on April 23, admitting that he has a “property interest” in the money and the cash counting machine.

But he denied that neither the cash nor the machine are instruments of criminal activity, as alleged. He also claimed that the Richmond RCMP violated his constitutional rights during the search.

Thompson said Zhang appears to admit in the response that the money is at least partly his.

“I want to put some kind of garnishment order on someone for that,” Thompson said of the cash. He can also file a lien on the condominium, owned by Li, in case some of the missing ransom money was used as a down payment.

Thompson said he recently contacted his clients to update them on developments in the case.

“Every time the parole board sends something out or something like this comes up, I feel obligated to reach out to them… and obviously that creates a lot of bad memories,” Thompson said.

During the call, the father told him his son’s last words about how the captors were giving him only 20 seconds to arrange to send the ransom money.

“And then Eddie Zhang was counting down the 20 seconds,” Thompson said. “And that was the last conversation with his son. So every time the topic comes up, you can imagine what the father feels.”

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Zhang pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, unlawful confinement and extortion in connection with Sun’s kidnapping. In February 2017 he was sentenced to 11 years and 10 months of preventive detention. He was granted full parole on November 1, 2023.

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