Investigation Finds That Money Laundering Concerns in BC Casinos Have Increased As the 2010 Olympics Approach – BC News

Photo: The Canadian Press

Commissioner Austin Cullen, center, listens to introductions before opening statements to the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia, Vancouver on Monday, Feb.24, 2020. A former British Columbia gaming policy official says concerns suspicious money and its possible links to casino money laundering began to grow as the province prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. CANADIAN PRESS / Darryl Dyck

A former British Columbia gambling official says concerns have been raised as large amounts of suspicious money with possible links to money laundering began appearing in casinos as the province prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Larry Vander Graaf told the public inquiry into money laundering that there has been an increase in suspected illegal money in casinos at the same time that the RCMP was preparing to organize Canada’s largest security effort to control Olympic Games.

The former executive director of the BC Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch says staffing problems on the police side were evident as the RCMP prepared for the Games, but serious concerns have also emerged in casinos.

Vander Graaf says investigators began noticing more suspicious money in casinos in 2007, in addition to solitaire activities, and in 2010 the casinos were “like a drive-in” where bags of $ 20 bills were delivered to parking lots.

He says he began to raise concerns that BC casinos were being used as vehicles for money laundering because people were buying $ 10,000 worth of gambling chips with bundles of $ 20 bills wrapped in rubber bands.

The BC government launched a public investigation following several reports which concluded that hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal cash were fueling BC’s real estate, luxury vehicle and gaming industries.