VANCOUVER — British Columbia's attorney general says money-laundering operations through the province's casinos are tied to the opioid crisis and the real-estate market.
David Eby has released an independent report on money laundering and says the problem surfaced in 2011 but the former Liberal government turned a blind eye to "serious crime with serious consequences."
He tasked former RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German to conduct a review and write a report, and German says casinos were used to launder $100 million as part of a scheme dubbed the "Vancouver model."
German says organized crime groups, primarily from Asia, laundered money from illegal drugs by using B.C. casinos and then invested the money in Vancouver-area real estate.
He says the amount of suspicious money entering casinos since a high point in 2015 has been greatly reduced due to police and gaming industry actions, but the prevention measures must continue to ensure the problem does not resurface.
Eby launched an investigation after the government's gaming enforcement branch showed him surveillance video of gamblers walking into casinos with suitcases and a hockey bag full of millions of dollars in $20 bills.
