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• Vancouver Casino Money Laundering
• What Is Money Laundering Examples
• Trump Casino Money Laundering Charges
• Casino Money Laundering Cases

There are several key methods that criminals deploy when money laundering. Many groups rely on breaking up the deposits into small tranches to avoid flagging in a practice known as structuring. Others simply buy chips with cash, spend some time on the casino floor and attempt to cash them out as winnings. There are many methods that involve the use of shell companies to conceal transactions, bank accounts and individuals involved. It is an incredibly complex area of finance and one that the authorities are fighting tirelessly to stamp out in all forms.

VANCOUVER — Larger amounts of suspicious cash with suspected links to money laundering and organized crime began showing up at British Columbia's casinos while the province prepared to host the. A whistleblower who claims he saw evidence of organized crime and money laundering in B.C.' S casinos is speaking out. W5's Kevin Newman investigates how deep.

What Makes Casinos the Perfect Target?

Casino gambling is a brilliant way to make money disappear, and reappear in separate bank accounts. Obviously, the casino industry takes measures to make this difficult which we will explain in more detail down the page. The casino does not necessarily need to be complicit in the money laundering activities for criminals to be successful, but many have known to be in the past. With so many underground markets operating throughout Asia, Europe and America – criminals have plenty of casinos and sports betting operators they can exploit to launder their dirty cash.

• VANCOUVER - Larger amounts of suspicious cash with suspected links to money laundering and organized crime began showing up at British Columbia's casinos while the province prepared to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, a former gaming regulator told the inquiry into money laundering.
• Exclusive: Money laundering flowing through back door channels in B.C. Casinos – Jan 28, 2019 Previously, official money laundering estimates in B.C.’s casino scandal have focused on loan sharks.

Without the compliance of the regulated casino industry, this is an uphill battle that the authorities cannot fight alone. There are many motivated, and well-funded criminal gangs that are persistent in their efforts to use casinos to launder money. Within the casinos, themselves exist many vulnerabilities that can be easily exploited. The staff in casinos represent one of the biggest risk factors for money laundering, as they are often low-paid administrative staff that can be easily bribed or threatened to assist the criminals laundering their money.

But what makes the casino money laundering so appealing rather than off-shore shell companies or other such methods.

The three biggest reasons for money laundering at casinos are:

• Casinos and sports betting operators have enormous cash flows that make it easy to bets intended for money laundering within the sea of transactions flowing in and out.
• It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you’ve been convicted of financial crimes or where your money comes from. The majority of casinos around the world are happy to accept wagers from anyone with hard cash to gamble.
• High-rollers are a major source of profit for many casinos – in order to maintain a strong a favorable relationship with the client, staff may ignore or turn a blind eye to any suspicious transaction.

As you can imagine from the above statements, revenue and profit are huge motivating factors for the casinos. It is difficult to deny that casinos are powerless to stop this activity, and certainly more needs to be done from industry regulators to enforce systematic checks on customers that set-off red flags with suspicious depositing activity.

Industry regulators certainly have a part to play, by scrutinizing large casino companies around the world they regularly audit and analyze financial statements looking for irregularities. The biggest operators make enough money from legal transactions, and it tends to be smaller casinos in less stringent jurisdictions that are complicit with money launderers. In Asia, there has been a long-term problem with this illegal activity – and a thriving underground gambling industry.

Things are a little different online, especially if you are gambling in the UK or another strictly regulated market. If you are worried about what might be going on at your favorite casino site, have a look at our guide to casino safety to see what reputable sites are doing to keep everything above board.

Fighting Against Money Laundering with Regulation

Within tightly regulated industries such as Europe and North America casino money laundering is a very low threat to operations. The regulators in these territories are very diligent, using a mixture of law enforcement integrations, technology, and correct procedures to mitigate the problems. Communities in Europe and North America are more resistant to the risks associated with exposing themselves to organized crime and are more active in their resistance to money launderers.

However, the Asian gambling industry is worth over $180bn annually. Before the market became such an enormous part of the local economy, a strong and thriving underground gambling scene was firmly established. Even now that big corporate casino interests have a firm hold on the market, the dark underbelly still remains.

Certain casinos within Asia are notorious for being connected to the criminal underworld – on a much larger scale than any European equivalent. It has been proven in the past that the Yakuza has a strong grip over many gambling operators in Japan, and in South-East Asia there have been several high-profile match-fixing and money laundering busts in the past decade.

The tide is turning though. Many of these casinos have begun enforcing identity checks on their new customers. More importantly, the range of payment options that was previously available has been refined to a select few, in this scenario payments are much more easily traced. The ability to use different accounts for deposits and withdrawals has enabled casino money laundering in the past, ending this practice will do a great deal for squashing the remnants of money laundering in this industry.

Is the Game Up for Money Launderers?

Obstructing the use of casinos as a vehicle for money laundering is a constant battle between law enforcement, criminals and casino operators. In the UK, customer check procedures are continuously improving, and in its current state, the system is highly impenetrable. The same rings true for much of Europe and North America. However, the lackluster approach to financial scrutiny in certain jurisdictions continues to allow the practice of money laundering to sneak under the radar. The amount of money involved is truly staggering, with that comes powerful and illicitly motivated groups who are determined for their business to go uninterrupted. The battle rages on between criminals and the authorities who are often left chasing shadows.

You can find out more info about how casinos stay safe from crime and how internet gambling is regulated in this section of our guide to real money casino gambling.

A saleswoman shows customers an Aston Martin at a luxury car dealership in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 10, 2015. Sales of expensive cars and export to China have jumped and is being tied to money laundering (Julie Gordon/Reuters)

Vancouver Casino Money Laundering

Money laundering definition from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) : the process used to disguise the source of money or assets derived from criminal activity. There are generally three stages in the process:

• -Placement: involves placing the proceeds of crime in the financial system;
• -Layering: involves converting the proceeds of crime into another form and creating complex layers of financial transactions to disguise the audit trail and the source and ownership of funds (e.g., the buying and selling of stocks, commodities or property); and,
• -Integration: involves placing the laundered proceeds back in the economy under a veil of legitimacy. (FINTRAC)

Last year an international investigation led by Peter German, former deputy commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, estimated that British Columbia’s casinos were being used to launder up to $1 billion annually. The report suggested the money was coming primarily from Asian crime groups who then invested in expensive Vancouver and area real estate.

B.C. Attorney General David Eby (background) and investigator Peter German at the release of German’s report, Dirty Money, in Vancouver, June 27, 2018, into money laundering at B.C casinos, German’s latest report looks at laundering through exotic car purchase and export. (Yvette Brend/CBC

Casinos- now luxury cars

Suddenly Vancouver has also become a North American hotbed for extremely expensive exotic cars.

Now investigator Peter German has found the loophole. While large scale transactions involving cash raise alarms, this has not been the case for vehicle sales, including super exotic cars where dealers are not required to report large transactions to FINTRAC.

B.C. Attorney General David Eby noted in a news conference about the findings said ,“In the luxury-car market, there is no financial reporting of large cash purchases, no oversight of international bank wire transfers and no apparent investigation or enforcement. The report also uncovered a complicated luxury-vehicle export scheme.”

Sales of exotic cars have skyrocketed in Vancouver and at other exotic dealerships elsewhere in the province. Provincial sates tax is returned to buyers if the car is not be licensed in B.C. such as if it is exported. Last year $28 million in tax was rebated to buyers who quickly exported the cars, mainly to China.(Christina Low)

Criminals use straw buyers who sometimes bring bags of cash for vehicle purchase or non-identifiable bank drafts, from small amounts of international wire transfers sent to multiple bank accounts., Perhaps surprisingly, a story in the Vancouver Sun noted that some of the so-called straw buyers were not able to speak English.

The vehicle then is turned over to the “real” buyer who may then resell to an exporter who ships it offshore, usually to China.

The Lamborghini Aventador SVJ on display at the Auto Exotica exhibit of the 2019 Canadian International AutoShow. Dealers at the show say sales have been kicked into overdrive in the last 3 years, from a few hundred to thousands, often to ‘well healed newcomers” (Philip Lee-Shanok/CBC

Adding insult to injury, once the car is sold abroad, the seller can apply for a rebate on the provincial sales tax. (PST) which on an expensive car can mean a huge sum is returned to the buyer.

Huge increase in exports and rebates given

German’s report notes that prior to 2014, PST rebates were fewer than 100. That jumped to over 700 in the following two years, then to over 3,600 in 2016. Last year the number of rebates give for luxury and exotic cars exported was over 4,400. The rebates total $85 million since 2013, with $28 million of that in 2018.

The report indicates several buyers have made multiple purchases and rebate requests.

The 300 page report is the second portion of investigator Peter German’s look into money laundering in British Columbia. Last June his “Dirty Money” report found substantial money laundering through the province’s casinos.

Video released by B.C’s attorney general shows casino customers bringing in bags of cash to one of B.C.’s casinos in an apparent act of money laundering. (B.C. attorney general)

What Is Money Laundering Examples

British Columbia is now studying the report towards developing new rules, however coordination at the federal level would also be required

Trump Casino Money Laundering Charges

German’s full report will include money laundering and the real-estate market in the province.

Additional information-sources

Casino Money Laundering Cases