Thread by @scoopercooper

Exclusive: Former B.C. casino supervisor blows whistle on how Macau-style money laundering exploded ... journal records document arrival of Big Circle Boys in Richmond casino #Vanre #bcpoli globalnews.ca/news/5215614/m…

2. “We are all concerned for our safety, and we feel we need to document these activities for our own well-being,” an Aug. 1, 1998 entry in Labine’s journal reads

3. “We are aware that there is more than one gang operating the tables,” an August 1998 journal note says. “We have been wondering where they manage to find these massive amounts of twenty-dollar bills … the well, it never seems to dry up."

4. “(Redacted) feels strongly that heroin, not extortion, is the major source of income for the sharks … (he says) deals occur all the time and are visible if you are paying attention. In public washrooms, according to him, on several occasions, (he) was witness to drug deals.’”

5. “I came into the casino one night to go to work, and there was one of our customers with two of the loan sharks. (They) had him up against the wall on the outside of the building, threatening him, saying: ‘We want our money, we want our money,’” she recalled.

6. “The threat that was uttered to the supervisor was, ‘I’m going to put a bullet between your eyes.’”

7. Thomas said he received a complaint that Lai CHANGXING allegedly sexually assaulted a female casino dealer. Thomas said he looked into the allegation, but it was not confirmed, and the employee did not want to pursue the complaint.

8. “I raised my hand and said: ‘I want to talk about the gangs on the agenda.’ (Manager) looked at me and said: ‘They are just friends loaning money to friends.’ And that was the end of it,” Labine recalled. “He shut me right down. Right there.”

9. “We were told by senior casino management months ago to ‘lay off him. He is not someone you want to deal with,’” one entry in Labine’s journal alleges.

“He was the only shark that was given free cigarettes and drinks by the casino.”

10. These investigators point to a Big Circle Boys kingpin who was believed to be the top loan shark in the Richmond casino and a violent heroin trafficker.

11. These loans would be secured against luxury vehicles and Vancouver homes, court records allege. And the loan shark was paid back with cheques — a fact proven when cheques worth hundreds of thousands were seized from his home.

12. If casino borrowers could not pay back, the kingpin and his cell of Big Circle Boys would extort their victims, making threats and seizing vehicles, furniture or homes as repayment, according to the allegations.

13. “It was a new thing for members of our staff. Remember, up until that time, we deal with bets of $25 in this province up until 1997,” Thomas said. “Of course, as soon as the government comes in, everything they had denied before — ‘Oh no, we can’t have high betting limits’

14. “You have to differentiate. If you see somebody handing somebody else some money, you have to be able to say, ‘Well, is this a friend?’” Thomas said. “’Is this a relative, is it a loan shark, whatever?’

15. “I shook hands with many people. Did I shake hands with someone who was purportedly a loan shark or a runner? Maybe,” Thomas said. “If I had a reason to shake hands. I used to bar people myself in the casino."

16. Thomas strongly denied that he ever came to an understanding with or had dealings with gangs in Great Canadian Gaming casinos. However, he says he recalls telling some in the casino that they couldn’t be jotting down transactions in their record books in front of surveillance

17. “Drugs being involved? Never heard it. I don’t know how anyone would know it, that a runner was running for a loan shark who was involved in drugs. I never heard it, never saw any evidence of that," then-GCG VP Thomas said, in response to Labine journal allegations.

18. Thomas said that Lai Changxing, a criminal billionaire and China’s “most wanted man” — as well as a prolific baccarat gambler in Richmond who closely associated with Yan and alleged Big Circle Boys kingpin Kwok Chung Tam, according to federal court records — was told ...

19. “I told him this is our business and we don’t want any problems with his boys,” Thomas recalled. “We had security and backup. These guys don’t s–t in their nest.”

20. Please read the story, to understand the allegations of how Macau-style casino money laundering works in BCLC casinos. Loan sharks give drug cash to high-rollers; high rollers pay back, if they are gang bosses, in China, with no interest; if they are victims, by extortion,

21. At rates of 10 to 15 per cent per WEEK ... secured against cars, homes, furniture; pay back with CHEQUES ... if no pay back, death threats, children followed, car or home taken, truck comes and empties your home. This typology/history is all in federal records. Stay tuned.