XPost: van.general, bc.general, alt.true-crime
XPost: bc.politics

A flood of $5,000 chips that disappeared from River Rock Casino raised
concerns about public safety and an alleged underground economy
connected to illegal casinos in Richmond, according to documents
obtained by Postmedia News.

The documents, which are redacted to protect police investigations,
were released to Postmedia in the third phase of a freedom of
information disclosure.

They say that in 2016, after “an unusually high number of $5,000 poker
chips went missing from River Rock Casino, (this) prompted BCLC to
initiate a wholesale chips exchange.”

The large volume of missing River Rock Casino chips risked the
integrity of BCLC casinos, documents say. But a confidential plan to
replace the chips was delayed, according to documents, and there were
concerns of an information leak between BCLC and River Rock staff.

The issue became a priority for BCLC anti-money laundering staff
throughout 2015, when “River Rock experienced an increase in patrons
leaving with large quantities of $5,000 chips,” documents say. “BCLC
believed the high number of outstanding River Rock Casino chips posed
a personal risk to the safety of those in possession of large
quantities of these chips.”


BCLC eventually completed a recall of $5,000 chips at River Rock in
January 2016. Most of the chips had been taken from high-limit betting
rooms. VIP gamblers were presented with cash or new chips in exchange
for the old casino currency. However, a recall that had been planned
for September 2015 was delayed for “operational” reasons and
“cancelled at the last minute,” the documents say. They say River Rock
Casino staff were concerned about the chip swap for various reasons,
including the potential for upsetting VIP gamblers.

An internal email sent Dec. 30, 2015 among BCLC staff says that
corporate compliance executive Rob Kroeker also had concerns as a
result of a phone call from a person whose name was redacted from
documents.

“It appears that the chip swap information is floating around the
River Rock Casino, for (an) end of January date,” the BCLC email says. “(Kroeker) is concerned that we have a leak that would have released
this information. Can you advise who is aware of this project from our
end or that you have communicated this to?”

A January 2016 email among BCLC staff later said “this is very
confidential, but it looks like we will be swapping out all the $5000
chips on January 18th.”

A BCLC memo regarding the emails exchanged between BCLC and River Rock
staff, notes the “mention that planning for the swap is moving ahead
despite ‘comfort level’ concerns of River Rock Casino.”

Also, there were “concerns from River Rock that they might not have
enough $5,000 chips for the Chinese New Year, due to the decision not
to issue new $5k chips until the chip exchange program is complete.”

But in late December 2015, BCLC’s director of anti-money laundering
Ross Alderson wrote: “It appears from the email chain like RRCR are
having issues … It would be nice to have a comfort level (information
redacted) it is now a current policy requirement and the service
provider should be adhering to it.”

BCLC brass had been concerned about more than just missing chips at
River Rock, internal documents obtained by Postmedia show.

The documents say that BCLC executives met with executives from River
Rock operator Great Canadian Gaming Corp. in October and November
2014, to discuss problems of extremely large cash deliveries, $5,000
chips leaving the casino, and an alleged network of VIP gamblers from
China using “large volumes of unsourced casino value chips at River
Rock Casino.”

The documents allege that these “unsourced chips” were delivered by
the lender network of Paul King Jin. Later in 2015, Jin’s network
became central to RCMP’s E-Pirate investigation into allegations of transnational money laundering targeting B.C. casinos.

River Rock management present at these late 2014 meetings regarding
Jin’s network and unsourced chip allegations included Great Canadian
chief operating officer Terrance Doyle, VIP program manager Walter
Soo, and Kroeker, according to documents. Later in 2015, Kroeker
became BCLC’s vice-president of corporate security and compliance.

Internal BCLC records also make clear that the gambling regulator
became concerned that outstanding River Rock $5,000 chips were
allegedly being used to fund illegal gaming and an underground economy
in B.C. These records also point to tension with B.C.’s gaming policy enforcement branch. In mid-2015, records say, when branch
investigators became aware of the need for a chip recall, they accused
BCLC staff of not previously notifying them of a problem the gaming
branch viewed as important to the integrity of BCLC casinos.

Ministry of Finance records from 2016 and 2017 make the connection
between BCLC casino chips, organized crime, and illegal casinos. The
records say that B.C.’s new Joint Illegal Gaming Unit continues to
investigate the use of BCLC casino chips in illegal casinos. And
ongoing investigations have alleged that high-level organized crime
networks in B.C. with ties to Mainland China are using illegal
gambling houses in Richmond and BCLC casinos to launder money for drug traffickers. The investigations allege there are “multiple roles
filled by different people which enabled the organization in
laundering large amounts of money through casinos,” records say. And
when suspects were arrested in raids of six residences, police
captured large amounts of cash, bank drafts, suit cases and drug
equipment, records say.

Meanwhile, a B.C. Supreme Court case alleges a connection between the
network of Paul King Jin and an illegal casino in Richmond.

In the case, the plaintiff Paul King Jin claims that in December 2015
he loaned Richmond property owner Xiaobing Liu $2.68 million. Jin’s
claim says the loan was to be repaid in one month, and that Liu agreed
to “pay periodic interest to the plaintiff as agreed upon by the
parties.”

Liu did not repay the loan, according to the claim, and Jin seeks a
judgment for the debt.

However, in an October 2017 response, Liu claims that in December
2015, he “attended an illegal casino in Richmond, and was provided by
the illegal casino its own gambling chips.”

Liu denies knowing Jin, or having any loan agreement with Jin.

“The defendant was asked by a female employee of the illegal casino to
sign a document,” the response says, “as a receipt for the gambling
chips.”

“At no time did the defendant intend or understand that a loan
agreement … was being entered into with the plaintiff … at no time did
the defendant borrow or receive any monies from the plaintiff,” the
response says.

The case has not yet been resolved.

scooper@postmedia.com

http://theprovince.com/news/national/documents-points-to-5000-chip-problems-at-river-rock-casino/wcm/9c013875-cb00-4fd8-8200-44ace329538c
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If David Eby can't get to the bottom of it I don't know who can.

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