Canada orders deportation of Toronto man who helped Iran evade sanctions

A former Tehran police lieutenant living in Toronto under a new name is being deported from Canada for his “important and critical role” in a crime group that helped Iran evade sanctions.

The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled that Amin Yousefijam was “crucial” to the sanctions-dodging scheme, according to a copy of the 36-page decision released to Global News on Tuesday.

The IRB ruled that the Iranian citizen, who has resided in Canada since 2016, was the group’s logistician and oversaw shipping arrangements for the transnational procurement operation.

The electronics, motors and other materials he exported to Iran were “dual-use,” meaning they had both civilian and military applications, and could be harnessed to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.

“Yousefijam is a member of an organization that engaged in criminal activity that directly contravened sanctions imposed by Canada and the U.S.A. against the export of certain items to Iran,” IRB Member Christopher Marcinkiewicz wrote.

“I issue a deportation order against him.”

The CBSA did not respond by deadline to questions about Yousefijam’s deportation. Reached by phone, Yousefijam said he was still in Canada.

He would not say whether he had appealed his deportation order. “This is an ongoing legal matter so I won’t be able to discuss that in the interview,” he said.

“I’m considering my options and the minister has their options, so it’s still ongoing,” he said. “Right now I’m just, you know, living my life peacefully.”

But the ruling could put an end to his life in Canada, which began a decade ago when he arrived from Tehran, where his name was Amin Riki.

Arrested in Toronto in 2021, he was extradited to Michigan to stand trial for his alleged role in the sanctions evasion gang, which was led by his brother Arash.

After pleading guilty, Yousefijam was deported to Ontario, where he changed his name again, this time to Ameen Cohen – the third identity he is known to have adopted.

In its ruling, the IRB noted that when he applied to the Ontario government for a legal name change, he was asked whether he had ever been convicted of a criminal offence.

He answered “No.”

The IRB accused him of “providing false information on a government form,” rejecting Yousefijam’s claim that a government employee told him he didn’t need to report convictions outside Canada.

“I find that his failure to declare his U.S. conviction on his name change was done intentionally,” the IRB wrote, adding Yousefijam’s conduct was “indicative of someone who will say whatever he believes serves his immediate purpose.”

The deportation order was issued in July but was only released to Global News this week. It comes amid a U.S. war on Iran and Ottawa’s continuing efforts to expel regime members from Canada.

Iranian-Canadians have long complained that members and supporters of Iran’s repressive regime, as well as their families, have been treating Canada as a safe haven.

The government banned senior Iranian officials from Canada in 2022. Since then, the CBSA has opened dozens of investigations into regime members identified across the country.

As of Oct. 1, the Canada Border Services Agency said it had found 40 top-level Iranian regime officials living in Canadian cities. Two have been deported so far while eight have left voluntarily.

Two more are awaiting removal while the rest are to be brought before the Immigration and Refugee Board, or have already had deportation hearings.

Meanwhile, Global News revealed last month that the son of Iran’s former vice president has been living in Edmonton and operating businesses under the name “Sal Ghafouri.”

Federal agencies, including the RCMP and Canadian Forces, have awarded the Iranian citizen almost $2-million in contracts, although he is under investigation over his alleged work for Iran’s military.

The CBSA’s attempt to deport Yousefijam has dragged on for more than two years. Deportation hearings began in September 2024 and ended in February 2025.

It’s unclear why it took the IRB until July 2026 to issue its decision, especially considering Yousefijam is not Canadian and was convicted in U.S. court in 2021.

The IRB said Yousefijam knew what he was doing when his brother Arash recruited him into crime group, which aimed to profit from sanctions evasion.

Yousefijam got involved “voluntarily and with knowledge and intent to defeat sanctions,” Marcinkiewicz wrote in his ruling.

“His attempt to distance himself and paint himself as an unsophisticated and ignorant individual working blindly at the behest of his brother undermines his general credibility,” he wrote.

While Yousefijam’s involvement was “more limited” than his brother’s, “it was nevertheless an important and critical role in the overall operation as it largely focused on securing shipping of sanctioned goods from the U.S.A. to Iran,” the IRB wrote.

“Without his involvement in the shipment of the items, they would not have reached their destinations in Iran,” the decision said.

“In other words, his role was not insignificant as he was tasked with contacting the seller and/or shipper in the U.S.A. and arranging or the items to be shipped and in so doing utilizing methods such as ‘cross stuffing.’”

Cross-stuffing is when goods are exported to a transit country, moved from one shipping container to another and then re-shipped to the end destination.

The Yousefijam brothers and a third member of the group used the United Arab Emirates as their hub for moving sanctioned materials to Iran, the IRB wrote.

The CBSA had argued that Yousefijam was a danger to Canada’s security because he had undermined the government’s efforts to contain Iran’s regime.

But the IRB said the CBSA had not proven that Yousefijam remained a security threat. The deportation order was issued based on his role in a criminal organization.

A U.S. court also convicted Yousefijam’s brother, but as a Canadian citizen he does not face immigration enforcement action.

The brother has now changed his name to Aurash Cohen and gone into dentistry. Ontario revoked his dental license in 2024 after Global News revealed his past.

Canada has been using sanctions to counter the threats Iran poses to international security and to its own people, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.

Since the Iran war began in February, the regime has been linked to an array of plots in Western countries, most recently at a British air base used by the U.S. military.

Iran is one of the five key states involved in foreign interference in Canada, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which has called the Islamic Republic a “predator.”

“Iranian intelligence services act indirectly through agents, contacts and sympathizers, including individuals in Canada associated with organized crime groups,” CSIS wrote in its report.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca