Ottawa:
A former Canadian immigration judge was today found guilty of trying to coerce sex from a South Korean woman in exchange for granting her asylum, the court said.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Thea Herman ruled former Immigration and Refugee Board judge Steve Ellis, 50, was guilty of breach of trust and bribery in relation to the refugee application.
Prosecutors alleged that in September 2006, Ellis met with Ji-Hye Kim, then 25, at a Toronto coffee shop and said he would deny her refugee claim unless she agreed to an "intimate relationship." During the trial, the court was presented with audio and video recordings of their conversation, which was secretly recorded by Kim and her boyfriend. In the recordings, Ellis said, "Let me see what I can do. I'm going to work on it. I really want to be friends with you."
"You've got a boyfriend. I've got a wife," he said. "Don't worry. I'm not going to be demanding. I'm not going to ask you to move in with me or anything like that." "I'm not going to fall in love with you."
Before being appointed as an immigration judge, Ellis was a Toronto city councillor from 1991 to 1997. Kim was seeking asylum in Canada from an abusive father and threats from money lenders in her home country of South Korea. Ellis is to be sentenced on June 4.