A 'decade of dirty money'. That’s what an explosive new report is calling British Columbia's years under BC Liberal rule.

Bc Casino Money Laundering Report Template
Bc Casino Money Laundering Reporting

British Columbia Government Accused of Hiding Money Laundering Report Friday, The British Columbia Attorney General, Davis Eby released a report that was a year old containing allegations of money laundering in Richmond, suburb of Vancouver at the River Rock Casino Resort. The current Attorney General is basically throwing former province government officials under the bus. Casinos employ roughly 37,000 staff in B.C., generating “huge revenue” for the province. German urged B.C. To create a new gambling-funded Crown corporation to crack down on money laundering.

According to Peter German's report, the BC Liberals allowed millions upon millions in dirty money from illegal activity to be laundered through BC casinos on their watch. This money powered the fentanyl epidemic and contributed to the housing affordability crisis — and it happened largely because regulators refused to act and chose to look the other way.

Not once. Not twice. But time and time and time again.

So what happened when — and who knew what? We’ve done our best to break it down for you, going all the way back to 2002.

2002: The BC Liberal government passes a new Gaming Control Act, creating a new regulator called the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch.

2004: The BC Liberal government and the RCMP create the Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement team (also known as IIGET) with a mandate to investigate crimes surrounding “common gaming” houses, animal fighting, and bookmaking. It falls under the purview of Solicitor General Rich Coleman.

December 2007: The Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team prepares a report on its future; warning that high-level illegal gambling targets would conduct their operations with 'impunity' if the unit were disbanded.

November 2008: Reporter Sean Holman reveals that the BC Liberal party accepted more than $250,000 in donations from private bingo hall and community gaming centre interests between 2002 and 2007. This is despite an internal BC Liberal party bylaw banning donations from gaming.

Note: By the end of 2017 when corporate donations are banned, the BC Liberals accepted more than $500,000 in political donations from gaming companies.

January 2009: IIGET prepares a “Threat Assessment” report warning that BC casinos are extremely vulnerable to money laundering. They ask for an expanded role including BC casinos.

April 2009: Then-Housing Minister Rich Coleman eliminates funding for IIGET, disbanding the unit. He suggests the unit was not cost-effective and had failed to produce a business plan. Journalist Sean Holman later publishes a leaked copy of IIGET’s business plan.

October 2009: IIGET’s former commander Fred Pinnock speaks to journalists, stating that his team should have been expanded, not shut down. He comments “I'm not sure how motivated the provincial government was to have high-profile enforcement of illegal gaming in the province.'

January 2011: Inspector Barry Baxter from the RCMP’s Integrated Proceeds of Crime Section speaks to media about suspicions of dirty money in BC casinos and “sophisticated money-laundering activities by organized crime.”

He highlights a period of three months in 2010 where employees at 2 lower mainland casinos reported a combined total of $8 million in 90 large cash transactions, an average of one a day.

Rich Coleman criticizes Insp. Baxter, saying “Yeah, I know what he said, and I don’t agree with him, neither do all the superiors of his in the RCMP.”

August 2011: Following a request by Solicitor General Rich Coleman, the BC Office of Civil Forfeiture prepares a report on money laundering at BC casinos. The report recommends that BC Gaming update its approach to tackling money laundering.

November 2012: The head of the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch identifies 543 suspicious transactions, totalling $39.5M between 2010 and 2011. According to the German report, most occurred at Richmond’s River Rock Casino.

March 2013: Over email, the investigator leading gaming enforcement warns that money laundering is taking place at BC casinos. He suggests that illegal sources are supplying loan sharks with dirty money, who are then supplying gamblers.

Less than a year later, Finance Minister Mike de Jong fires the investigator. No other action is taken.

July 2015: The money-laundering crisis reaches historic levels with one casino accepting $13.5 million in twenty-dollar bills in a single month.

Later that month, the BC Lottery Corp sends the ‘Section 86’ report to the BC Gaming Enforcement Branch (an arm of the BC Ministry of Finance). It details the discovery of a massive underground banking network allowing organized crime to use illegal money transfer businesses in Richmond to lend cash to gamblers for chips at the River Rock Casino.

The 600 account holders in the underground banking network include known drug dealers in Mexico and Peru, and terrorist financiers in Iran.

July 2016: The BC Liberal government receives a report from accounting firm MNP LLP recommending changes to anti-money laundering practices.

They fail to implement the recommendations and withhold the report from the public.

May 2017: Rich Coleman accepts a $390 donation from Gateway Casinos to his personal re-election campaign. One year later in July 2018, he will tell CKNW’s Lynda Steele that he never accepted donations from gaming.

September 28, 2017: BC NDP Attorney General David Eby hires Peter German to investigate money laundering at BC casinos.

Bc casino money laundering report template

October 4, 2017: The ‘Section 86’ report is leaked to the Vancouver Sun. Mike de Jong refuses to comment.

October 19, 2017: Andrew Wilkinson cashes a cheque for $5,000 from Gateway Casinos for his leadership campaign. Other BC Liberal leadership contenders receive another $20,000.

June 27, 2018: Peter German releases his report, confirming the prevalence of money laundering in BC casinos. His report suggests that money laundering impacts both the fast-growing fentanyl crisis and affordability in BC’s real estate market.

German highlights the BC Liberal decision to disband IIGET as making matters worse.

Former BC Liberal cabinet ministers go into hiding. Instead, Andrew Wilkinson puts forward new MLA Jas Johal. He fails to accept any responsibility and blames the RCMP.

The RCMP issues a statement correcting the record, saying “At times, government is briefed on sensitive information concerning police investigations that cannot be released. However, it was the decision of government to disband [the] Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team (IIGET).”

June 28, 2018: Speaking to the CBC, BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson refuses to accept responsibility, saying that asking politicians to do so is a “sad exercise.”

July 3, 2018: Former BC Liberal Attorney General Suzanne Anton (2013-2017) is asked by a CBC reporter whether her government’s response to money laundering took too long. She agrees, saying “That's correct. And it was slow.”

July 5, 2018: Calling into the Lynda Steele show on CKNW, Rich Coleman finally speaks to the issue. He calls the suggestion that his government did little to staunch money laundering ‘a load of garbage’. Like Johal and Wilkinson, he blames the RCMP for disbanding IIGET.

When asked if he’d act sooner knowing what he does now, replies 'I think it's difficult to say you would do anything differently.'

July 10, 2018:In an explosive interview with Global BC, former IIGET commander Fred Pinnock lays into the BC Liberals for their complicity in allowing money laundering to flourish in BC casinos.

Bc Casino Money Laundering Report