Thread by @scoopercooper

B.C. casino bosses complained that drug-trafficking probes were hurting business: inquiry | Globalnews.ca globalnews.ca/news/7612942/b…

2. “We are acutely aware of the revenue implications for both of us,” Brad Desmarais emailed to Michael Graydon, the inquiry heard. Desmarais said he was “pressing” B.C.’s casino regulator to disrupt illegal casinos where the high rollers may have taken their business.

3. A River Rock patron made $1.8 million in transactions with small bills in just seven days, the inquiry heard, and casino staff had not reported some of the high roller’s suspicious transactions

4. Brad Desmarais responded, asking if River Rock could question the VIP on his source of funds. However, the patron continued with suspicious cash transactions and River Rock staff did not question him, the inquiry heard.

5. "I recognize we do not want to jeopardize revenue,” Tottenham said in the email to Brad Desmarais, adding that it might be best for Lottery Corp. investigators to interview the patron instead.

6. Revenue pressures occurred while GPEB staff were urging Lottery Corp. management to crack down on hundreds of millions in $20 bills flooding into B.C. casinos through the bets of Chinese high rollers that the branch believed were funded by Asian gangs.

7. Before jumping to his Vancouver casino job in 2014, and before pressing to raise bet limits to 100k per hand for the offshore whale VIP market, Graydon as @BCLC CEO told his execs bonuses would not be issued unless they met revenue targets.

8. “I want to stress to this group that it is critical that we come in on budget from a net revenue perspective,” an email from Michael Graydon to his Lottery Corp. executives said, the inquiry heard. “I expect everyone to achieve that.”

9. The inquiry heard that Desmarais advertises himself as a leading expert on organized crime and money laundering investigations. But when he was hired he wanted to push back against 'confirmation bias' from former police officers that felt the bags of $20s coming in must be

10. related to drug cash proceeds.
And he pushed back on the enforcement branch’s warning that organized crime was flooding B.C. casinos with drug cash from China, the inquiry heard.

11. The inquiry also heard that in December 2014, Desmarais provided a “technical briefing” on B.C. casinos to the deputy minister responsible for gaming, Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland, and that Lightbody and a staffer for then-gaming minister Mike de Jong were there too.

12. Desmarais had already communicated repeatedly with Lottery Corp. investigator Mike Hiller, (a leading expert on the Big Circle Boys) who told him that most Chinese high rollers at the casino got their cash from loan sharks and arranged to pay back loans in China.

“Did you tell (Wenezenki-Yolland that the suspicious cash used by high rollers) could be attributed to underground banking?” Latimer asked.

“I never said it was entirely attributable,” Desmarais said.

After GPEB investigators started complaining urgently about repeated massive $500k transactions from a highroller named Kesi Wei linked to Paul King Jin and Kwok Chung Tam, Desmarais said he pressed RCMP FSOC to undertake an investigation of Jin's cash "facilitator" network at RR

@CullenInquiryBC lawyers have put forward evidence including emails that show BCLC and casino managers continued to have revenue on their minds when RCMP was investigating.

Some really interesting evidence about an interview where a River Rock VIP hostess served as a 'translator' between Desmarais and a VIP. I would be digging into this if I could interview the participants in that room @CullenInquiryBC