16th June 2025

Posted on: September 19, 2024, 07:00h. 

Final up to date on: September 19, 2024, 07:02h.

Authorities in British Columbia have utilized to grab C$880Okay (US$650ok) from an accused triad who’s suspected of laundering cash by casinos in Canada, CBC stories.

Tujie Lai, Money Laundering, River Rock Casino, British Columbia
Lai is alleged to have gambled extensively with money on the River Rock On line casino Resort in Richmond, British Columbia, above, in a manner that was indicative of cash laundering. (Picture: Cvent)

Tujie Lai claims to have turn out to be a multimillionaire by the junket business in Macau. He’s needed in mainland China for fees together with kidnapping, extortion, and main a prison gang.

In 2018, he was usually playing within the River Rock On line casino in Richmond, B.C., in a manner that was indicative of cash laundering, in line with B.C.’s Mixed Forces Particular Enforcement Unit.

Bundles of Notes

The courtroom paperwork present that Lai purchased $250Okay value of on line casino chips in July 2017 and cashed out a complete of $610Okay in Canadian foreign money throughout the identical interval.

In November 2018, he transformed $20Okay in US foreign money, made up of two bundles of $100 payments, into chips on the River Rock. These have been sure with elastic bands in a manner that “was not in step with commonplace banking practices,” the filings claimed.

In December 2019, he turned up AT the River Rock with C$9.9K in 12 bundles of $20 and $50 payments, once more sure with elastic bands. Because the reporting requirement for money transactions at casinos was $10Okay, this was, once more, extremely indicative of cash laundering, in line with B.C. authorities.

On the time, River Rock was on the middle of a cash laundering epidemic in British Columbia that turned a nationwide scandal in Canada. From round 2010 onwards, an inadequacy of oversight on the province’s casinos allowed prison gangs with hyperlinks to the drug commerce to launder a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands by VIP rooms.

Chinese language excessive rollers have been usually lent cash to gamble by underground banks to assist them circumvent caps on the motion of cash out of China. These funds, which have been usually mingled with drug cash, would then be transformed into on line casino chips and washed.

Border Flight

Lai tried to cross the usCanadian border illegally in October 2019 earlier than fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol again into Canada on foot, in line with U.S. authorities. He was subsequently detained by Royal Canadian Mounted Police and returned to US custody, earlier than being handed again to the CBSA.

In accordance with a submitting to the B.C. Supreme Court docket Tuesday, Tujie Lai’s spouse paid the cash authorities are asking to grab to the CBSA in October 2019 to safe her husband’s launch.

On the time, Lai was the topic of an Interpol purple discover that accused him of a number of crimes. together with extortion, assault, conspiracy and perjury.

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