Vancouver Model is really about drug money and capital flight from China, Cullen Commission criminology expert says, "it became an integral part of a broader system, and also bolstered drug trafficking." @JohnHua
2. "Certainly there is no shortage of literature on the very wide scope of financial crimes and a great deal of govt corruption in China." BC homes to two most specific threats, biker gangs, Chinese org crime, and also Mexican cartels emerging.
3. Hells Angels are very specific, when you refer to Chinese organized crime, it is looser. Expert says Big Circle Boys is an "antiquated" term now, of the networked approach of Asian org crime. These ex military men, "really expanded that network in Canada,"
"they could be businessmen, ex military, gangsters, "they tend to fly under the radar, this loose network poses a greater threat then the Hells Angels, it is much more sophisticated operational structure, this network of criminal alliances, and not just in the Chinese community
"the Chinese money launderers," in Vancouver worked with any organization, the criminologist says. Now talking about the Sinaloa Cartel inroads in BC.
We have seen growth in underground methods and technique, like corruption mixed with the centuries old, 'informal value transfer' (meaning credits between different countries without money crossing borders) in informal economies, that is central to Vancouver Model, expert says.
cash deposits is the most predominant way to get crime money into legit economy, through an account at a casino, or bank, or currency exchange. Simple account deposits, are 'placement', now onto structuring, 'the act of parcelling a large transaction into smaller ones' to avoid
financial reporting requirements, and smurfing is a lot of different people doing the smaller transactions, they go hand in hand. "you tend to need a number of people." "It's very common in Canada."
Expert says cash smuggling is still a predominant method, the same routes used to smuggle drugs into a country, are used to smuggle cash out, to purchase the drugs "The whole capital flight from China, as an extra wrinkle in BC because of large amounts of cash being smuggled out"
"If you want to hang onto currency, you need to convert 20s or 50s into 100 bills, this is germane to BC, the Vancouver Model." "Refining is important, take a heavy stack of 20s and convert into larger denom, it is easier to transport, so there is an affinity for drug dealers"
A 'loan back' you proceed the dirty money to a shell company, they give a fake loan back to you, to give the appearance of legit revenue, "you set up a labyrinth of shell companies, it helps get international money transferred, set up a shell in a tax haven country, and it lends
the money back to your company in Canada, to repatriate the money back." Offshore havens have always been an issue, still predominant in sophisticated ML ops.
They are attractive for their secrecy laws and confidentiality. Critics tell me, Canada has become too much like these traditional haven countries, generally small sun-splashed islands. Now expert talking about under invoicing. (Trade based ML) You buy a home, work with
a conspiring seller, and declare the house is worth 50k, that is on paper, but you pay the 50k under the table, now the seller can claim they only have 50k. This one would be a taxation benefit. But can work other way
that's it for now, couple tech issues but we heard from the expert at physical distance, onward.
Adding a few stories, the term 'Vancouver Model' came from an Australian academic that studied my reporting, for new Cullen Commission followers. globalnews.ca/news/4658157/f…
