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Lower Mainland property developer Bene Group has a company registered with the federal government that allows it to engage in foreign exchange dealing and money transferring.

Called the Bene Financial Group Ltd., its office is listed as located in a strip mall on No. 3 Road in Richmond. The sole director of Bene Financial is Ming Nan Li, the head of the Bene Group, according to B.C.’s corporate registry.

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But the information is not correct.

Ming Nan Li was never the owner of the Bene Financial Group. Instead, another man ran the business under that corporate name and used the address in the strip mall as a convenience, according to a Bene Group company official.

Photo by Francis Georgian / PNG

“It’s not owned by us actually. … Actually (the other man) was just using our offices,” said Peter Zhang, who identified himself as an assistant at the Bene Group when he answered a number listed with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (Fintrac).A money services business (MSB) is required to register with Fintrac, Canada’s financial intelligence gathering agency.