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The man also known as Kamyar Jahanrakhshan immigrated with his family to the U.S. from Iran in 1991, becoming an American citizen. But a few years later they moved to Canada, with a B.C. judge saying in 2012 that his mother, a travel agent, lived in Vancouver and his father in Toronto.

Rakhshan was initially arrested in 2009 after the boat chase, according to the Vancouver Province. A CBC report suggested the pursuit also involved a bailiff hired by an aggrieved car dealership.

He eventually was convicted of 40 fraud-related charges over a scheme that saw him create counterfeit credit cards linked to banks in Australia, Egypt, Brazil, France, the U.K., and other countries.

Rakhshan used them to buy seven luxury cars — including BMWs, Mercedes Benzes, a Lexus and Cadillac — and a Sundancer boat, charging close to $500,000.

He was also found guilty of obstructing justice and impersonating a police officer after contacting some of the banks and posing as a Canadian detective to obtain information related to his case.

U.S. prosecutors charge that he started targeting news sites in Canada and Australia — including the Sydney Morning Herald — shortly after his deportation in 2014. He would sometimes send them cash payments of up to $500, then threaten or actually carry out cyber attacks designed to stop sites from properly functioning, it’s alleged.

“I have been deported from Canada, and am trying to build a new life half a world away, but this nasty article of yours is taunting me every day,” he wrote to the CBC in 2015.

The court ruling on Leagle.com that Rakhshan tried to have removed concerned a civil suit he filed. He had applied to recover five cars seized from him in 2003 by a municipality in Washington State, vehicles also allegedly obtained by fraud.

The court refused his request, noting “a thief has no right to possess stolen property.”

(This story was lightly rewritten at 1 p.m. July 31)

National Post

tblackwell@nationalpost.com