A woman from Brampton, Ontario who posed as a nurse and gave people cosmetic procedures that she wasn?t qualified to perform was sentenced to about 2 years of jail time. Her victims were left with lasting physical injuries.
Mounting Charges
Shiva Ashkani, a resident of Brampton, Ontario was found guilty of 8 charges committed against her former patients. Her charges include one count of fraud under $5,000, one count of aggravated assault, and 3 counts of assault with a weapon. She claimed to be a medical cosmetician and a registered nurse with decades of experience administering collagen injections and botox.
3 of Ashkani?s patients reported permanent scarring, agonizing pain, significant financial losses, and fear of contracting blood-borne diseases after undergoing Ashkani?s procedures.
Ashkani has a history of mental illness. She was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Alfred O?Marra to 2 years minus a day in jail and another 3 years of probation.
Prosecutors requested a 3.5 years jail sentence but Justice O?Marra felt that her mental illness should also be considered before passing a sentence.
Harsh Sentencing or Not Harsh Enough?
Justice O?Marra wrote in his March 28 sentencing decision that although Ashkani knowingly injected applied harmful material and injected substances that brought so much physical and psychological pain plus financial harm to her victims, he has to take into account that she needs access to treatment and continuing control and supervision in view of her mental illness.
Ashkani?s fraudulent cosmetics treatments were committed in 2015, 3 years after she was accused of assault with a weapon and aggravated assault after attacking her husband and leaving him with a ruptured spleen.
History of Fraud?
According to O?Marra, Ashkani began posting ads about her non-existent medical credentials in February 2015 on classified sites online. She claimed that she?s a registered nurse with 13 years of experience working with surgeons as well as has 21 years of experience as a medical cosmetician working in Toronto, Vancouver, and Beverly Hills, California.
The court also heard of a Toronto tanning salon that needed a registered nurse and hired Ashkani in 2015 after coming across her ad in July 2015. The court shared that Ashkani performed botched collagen and botox treatments on 2 women in the tanning salon. It was found out that one of the women, the site manager, fell ill after the injection and ended up with damaged skin as well as scarring. The victim had to spend more than $4,000 to help correct the damage. Ashkani threatened the woman with physical violence after the victim filed a complaint against her. The other victim had skin discolouration after Ashkani?s procedure.
The Cost of Fraud
There are more victims aside from the women mentioned above. Each victim had a harrowing experience and had to spend time and money just to try to correct the damage caused by Ashkani?s procedures. The psychological trauma and pain alone are unbearable.
Ashkani has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder as well as bipolar disorder. She has a history of suicidal gesture according to the court. She was hospitalized after conviction and needed a psychiatric assessment before sentencing.
Frauds are everywhere. Even with today?s technology, quite a lot of people can still claim to be someone they?re not. It is best to do a background check before hiring potential employees. If you?re interested to undergo procedures, verify the credentials of the person who?ll be performing the procedures on you. Contact us if you need help with OSINT, looking to hire a private investigator, or want assistance with fraud prevention.
