'Magic Lady' behind $110M Ponzi scheme going to jail after losing last shot at appeal

A former Vancouver notary who ran a $110-million Ponzi scheme has been ordered to surrender herself after Canada's highest court dismissed her application for leave to appeal on Wednesday.

Rashida Samji was convicted on fraud charges for scamming nearly 300 investors, leading them to believe their money was being invested in a winery's planned expansion.

She was sentenced to six years in prison on Sept. 28, 2016.

Now 65, Samji had been free on bail while she applied for more time to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On Wednesday, the court dismissed that application — bringing her to the end of the road for appeal options.

The dismissal means Samji will begin serving her six-year prison sentence, as she was out on bail pending the decision.

Rhoda Witherly, the president of the Society of Notaries Public of B.C., said the news came as a relief.

"I think the gut reaction is that we're pleased that it's finished … it's been forever," she said.

"We're really, at this point, glad now all the people involved can kind of see some closure on it."

Samji lied with 'eyes wide open': judge

The Ponzi scheme came to light in 2012, nearly 10 years after it began.

With Samji at the helm, investors were told a winery group needed collateral to get loans and credits to pay for its expansion. 

The cash was supposed to stay in Samji's notary trust account, with victims promised returns as high as 35 per cent in the early days of the scheme.

In reality, the investors were paying each other.

Samji once said she was dubbed the "magic lady" for her ability to bring investors on board — including her own friends and family.

Delivering his guilty verdict in 2016, provincial court Judge Gregory Rideout described Samji's scam as "monumental deceit."​

"She knew exactly what she was doing and went forward with eyes wide open," the judge said.

The day before she was sentenced, Samji stood before a judge and apologized for what she'd done.

"The clocks cannot be turned back," she said, dressed in head-to-toe black.

"It might sound futile, but I am truly sorry for the loss, pain and grief endured by the investors."

In 2015, the B.C. Securities Commission fined Samji $33 million for the same scheme.

At the time, the association said it was the biggest Ponzi scheme it had ever heard.

Samji had tried to claim that criminal charges on top of that penalty amounted to double jeopardy — meaning she was wrongfully being prosecuted twice for the same crimes.

Rideout rejected her bid, saying the fine didn't begin to address her "moral blameworthiness."

Samji was also ordered to pay victims more than $10 million in restitution. 

The Supreme Court of Canada did not provide reasons for dismissing her application.

With files from Jason Proctor