Agreement says Rajesh Soni fabricated documents in immigration and divorce cases over multiple years
A B.C. lawyer has agreed to not practice law anywhere in Canada for a decade, after admitting to a string of misconduct allegations that included fabricating documents and improperly handling trust funds.
Rajesh Soni admitted to 19 separate misconduct allegations in an undertaking posted by the Law Society of B.C. earlier this month.
They included faked letters, purportedly from government agencies like Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the B.C. Vital Statistics Agency (VSA), and even falsifying the stamps used by courts and using other lawyers’ jurat stamps without permission.
In one case, involving a client that had applied for a name change certificate, Soni admitted to issuing a cheque that purported to be from the VSA as they apologized for application delays — though he knew the apology was fake.
The cheque amounted to nearly $4,500, according to the undertaking, and Soni admitted to later falsifying documents that purported to be from the head of B.C.’s public service and a Court of Appeal justice.
“Should [Soni] apply for reinstatement at the conclusion of the term of his undertaking in April 2036 … [he] would bear the onus of demonstrating that he meets the requisite standards,” the agreement reads.
Failed to include fees
The undertaking states that Soni agreed that he misled four clients over the course of years — from March 2021 to January 2024, after which he stopped practicing law.
In one case, he told a client that long wait times were the reason their permanent residency application was not approved — even though it had already been rejected because he failed to include the application fee.
“[Soni] provided the Client with a fabricated letter purportedly from IRCC, which stated, among other things, that the COVID-19 pandemic had ‘substantially hindered this department’s ability to handle applications’ … when he knew that he had fabricated the letter,” the agreement reads.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-lawyer-rajesh-soni-misconduct-9.7160143
