A former Tehran police lieutenant living in Toronto under a new name has been deported from Canada because of his “important and critical role” in a criminal group that helped Iran evade sanctions.
The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled that Amin Yousfejam was “decisive” in the sanctions evasion plan, according to a copy of the 36-page decision released to Global News on Tuesday.
The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled that the Iranian national, who has resided in Canada since 2016, was the group’s logistics officer and oversaw shipping arrangements for the transnational procurement operation.
The electronics, motors and other materials it exported to Iran were “dual-use,” meaning they had both civilian and military applications and could be harnessed to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.
“Yousvigam is a member of an organization that has engaged in criminal activity in direct violation of sanctions imposed by Canada and the United States for the export of certain items to Iran,” wrote Christopher Marcinkiewicz, a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
“I issued a deportation order against him.”
The Canada Border Services Agency did not respond by deadline to questions about Yousvigam’s deportation. Reached by phone, Youssefjam said he remains in Canada.
He did not say whether he had appealed his deportation order. He added: “This is an ongoing legal matter, so I will not be able to discuss that in the interview.”
“I’m considering my options and the minister has his options, so it’s still ongoing,” he said. “Now I’m just, you know, living my life in peace.”
But the ruling may put an end to his life in Canada, which began a decade ago when he arrived from Tehran, where his name was Amin Riki.
He was arrested in Toronto in 2021 and extradited to Michigan to stand trial for his alleged role in the sanctions evasion ring, which was led by his brother. Arash.
After pleading sinnerYoussvigam was deported to Ontario, where he changed his name again, this time to Amin Cohen – the third identity he is known to have adopted.
The Immigration and Refugee Board noted in its ruling that when he applied to the Ontario government to change his legal name, he was asked whether he had been convicted of a criminal offence.
“No,” he replied.
The Immigration and Refugee Board accused him of “providing false information on a government form,” rejecting Yousvigam’s claim that a government employee told him he did not need to report convictions outside Canada.
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“I find that his failure to declare his name change culpable in the United States was intentional,” the IRB wrote, adding that Yousvigam’s behavior “suggests someone who will say what he believes serves his immediate purpose.”
Arash (left) and Amin Yousfejam changed their names to Arash and Amin Cohen after they were convicted of helping Iran evade sanctions.
The deportation order was issued in July, but was only made public to Global News this week. This comes amid a US war on Iran and Ottawa’s ongoing efforts to expel members of the regime from Canada.
Iranian-Canadians have long complained that members and supporters of Iran’s repressive regime, as well as their families, treat Canada as a safe haven.
The government has banned senior Iranian officials from entering Canada in 2022. Since then, the Canada Border Services Agency has opened dozens of investigations into identified members of the regime across the country.
As of October 1, the Canada Border Services Agency said it had found 40 high-ranking Iranian regime officials living in Canadian cities. Two have been deported so far while eight have left voluntarily.
Two others are awaiting deportation while the rest will be brought before the Immigration and Refugee Board, or have already had deportation hearings.
Meanwhile, Global News revealed last month that the son of the former Iranian vice president lives in Edmonton and runs business under the name “Sal Ghafouri.”
Federal agencies, including the RCMP and Canadian Forces, have awarded the Iranian national contracts worth nearly $2 million, although he is under investigation for his alleged work for the Iranian military.
The CBSA’s attempt to deport Youssavijam has been going on for more than two years. Deportation hearings began in September 2024 and ended in February 2025.
It is unclear why it took until July 2026 for the Immigration and Refugee Board to issue its decision, especially since Yousvigam is not Canadian and was convicted in a US court in 2021.
The Immigration and Refugee Board said Youssefjam knew what he was doing when his brother Arash recruited him into a criminal group aimed at profiting from evading sanctions.
Marcinkiewicz wrote in his ruling that Yousvigam “voluntarily, knowingly and intently engaged in defeating sanctions.”
“His attempt to distance himself and portray himself as a naive and ignorant person blindly acting at his brother’s behest undermines his public credibility,” he wrote.
While Yousfejam’s involvement was “more limited” than that of his brother, the IRB wrote, “he nonetheless had an important and critical role in the overall operation as it focused largely on securing the shipment of sanctioned goods from the United States to Iran.”
The decision stated: “Had it not been for his participation in shipping the materials, they would not have reached their destinations in Iran.”
“In other words, his role was no small one in that he was tasked with contacting the seller and/or shipper in the USA and arranging the items to be shipped, and in doing so using methods such as “cross-stuffing.”
Cross-stuffing occurs when goods are exported to a transit country, transferred from one shipping container to another and then shipped back to the final destination.
The IRB wrote that the Youssefjam brothers and a third member of the group used the United Arab Emirates as their hub to move sanctioned materials to Iran.
The Canada Border Services Agency said Yousefjam poses a risk to Canada’s security because he undermined the government’s efforts to contain the Iranian regime.
But the Immigration and Refugee Board said the CBSA had not proven that Yousvigam still poses a security threat. The deportation order was issued based on his role in a criminal organization.
Youssavijam’s brother was also convicted in a US court, but as a Canadian citizen he does not face immigration enforcement action.
The brother now changed his name to Orash Cohen and went into dentistry. Ontario revoked his dental license in 2024 after Global News exposed his past.
Canada is using sanctions to confront the threats Iran poses to international security and to its own people, according to Foreign Minister Anita Anand.
Since the war on Iran began in February, the regime has been linked to a host of plots in Western countries, most recently at a British air base used by the US military.
Iran is one of the five main countries implicated in foreign interference in Canada, according to Canada’s Security Intelligence Service, which described the Islamic Republic as a “predator.”
“Iranian intelligence services operate indirectly through agents, contacts and sympathizers, including individuals in Canada associated with organized crime groups,” CSIS wrote in its report.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
