Reports of corruption in B.C casinos, specifically River Rock Casino, started in late 2017. CasinoTrust has made sure to stay on the ball with updates regarding the story since then, even if the news of one casino's money laundering affairs has snow-balled into something much bigger in that time.
As CasinoTrust has reported before, the initial news that River Rock was involved in a massive money laundering scandal broke in September 2017. For the full details on this story, check out our much more extensive initial article. B.C Attorney General David Eby proceeded to order a full blown investigation into the casino's corruption.
Appointed to the task was RCMP former deputy commissioner, Peter German. The report was due in March 2018, and finally, it seems like the Canadian people have some answers as to what is happening in Vancouver specifically, but also in British Columbia as a whole.
The Peter German 2018 Report
As stated by the Globe and Mail, the report revealed that the lax regulatory measure for casinos in B.C has made room for extensive and international money laundering schemes to take root in the economy. Organized crime has systematically targeted and taken advantage of the situation to the extent that it is now entitled the ‘Vancouver model' of money laundering. The criminal organizations involved are tied into serious and dark world of opioid trading.
The report also shows how the lack of cohesiveness in the government body allowed the laundering to seep into the economy to the extent that it now threatens far greater bodies than casinos. The real estate market, for example, is a prime victim.
German is quoted as stating:
What is most troubling, is the degree of sophistication demonstrated by criminal syndicates which worked for many years in unison, across continents, to target B.C. casinos.
German found that some of the criminal organizations involved lead back to China, Mexico and Colombia among others, linking them to major opioid roots. Effectively, these organizations saw the weakness brought on by the warring gambling regulatory bodies, and struck while the iron was hot. As a result, most Vancouver land casinos are now ‘laundromats' for dirty money.
In the same report, German also foreshadowed the possibility that a crack-down on money laundering in casinos will just send the organized crime scurrying into other weak points of the economy. Like real estate. To avoid this, a full revision of Vancouver economy must be undertaken.
Eby commented to reporters that:
I can say now with absolute certainty that criminal money laundering is taking place in B.C. casinos and it has to stop.
Thanks to Dr. Peter German’s work, I can tell you it is tied to the opioid crisis that has taken thousands of people from their families. It’s linked to the real estate market and housing prices that have made life unaffordable for British Columbians.
Cohodes advises that, while official reports have only mentioned