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Foreigners, mostly Chinese businessmen, laundering millions of dollars through the River Rock Casino in Vancouver, British Columbia, has become so prevalent, the method has even been given a name: The “Vancouver Model”.
"Our international reputation is on the line," said Attorney General David Eby, speaking at an anti-corruption law conference in Vancouver, where he promised to announce action later this week seeking to rein in money laundering.
A previously suppressed report on money laundering at the popular River Rock Casino by accounting firm MNP suggests that Chinese VIP gamblers laid down buy-ins sometimes in excess of $500,000 to wash their proceeds of crime.
In one month (July 2015), the casino accepted $13.5 million in $20 bills alone.
“River Rock staff [members] have fostered a culture accepting of large bulk cash transactions.
“The issue of casinos, [River Rock] in particular, accepting large volumes of cash has now been a growing issue in the province for a number of years,” noted the report.
Elby claims the province has turned a blind eye to this activity due to the amount of money that has thus far been generated.
"They evaluated the costs of cracking down on white-collar crime, on fraud, on money laundering, and determined that the benefits of inaction outweighed the costs of action."
Mr. Eby said he has already sent the British Columbia Lottery Corp., which oversees casinos, new instructions based on preliminary recommendations that were due to go public on Tuesday.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
