An Ontario man pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the Unites States this week after he sold nearly US$6 million worth of fake allergy and sensitivity tests to more than 88,000 people.
Forty-one-year-old Kyle Tsui admitted to mail and wire fraud before a U.S. judge on Tuesday. He was extradited from Spain to the U.S. in November 2023.
U.S. officials said Tsui carried out the scheme from September 2018 to April 2019 using “The Allergy Testing Company” — the business he owned — to sell food and environmental sensitivity testing services that he knew were not actually being performed.
Tsui’s company advertised “highly-rated,” “top selling” sensitivity and intolerance tests that supposedly determined “how your body responds to 800 different food and environmental items” with “a small hair sample.”
“Tsui’s company … didn’t even attempt to test the samples his paying customers sent in, instead directing others to throw the samples in the garbage,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement.
The Allergy Testing Company then sent people back fake test results that falsely told them which foods and environmental factors were “safe” for them and which to avoid.
Tsui now faces a maximum of 20 years in U.S. prison for mail fraud and another maximum of 20 years for wire fraud. He also agreed to pay forfeiture in the amount of US$4,165,884.70.
U.S. officials noted the maximum sentences are for informational purposes only, “as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.”
Tsui is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on May 30, 2024.
Williams also thanked the Toronto Police Service, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, among other authorities, for their help with the investigation.
