British Columbia Government Sues Alleged International Money Launderer For Casino Chips

Posted on: June 25, 2018, 04:30h. 

Last updated on: June 25, 2018, 04:23h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

The British Columbia government has filed a lawsuit to get its hands on $75,000 worth of casino chips confiscated from an alleged international money launderer, apprehended earlier this month at the River Rock Casino in Richmond.

Dan Bai Shun Jin River Rock money-laundering
The River Rock Casino in Richmond, British Columbia has become the epicenter of a growing money-laundering scandal in the province. Dan Bai Shun Jin was arrested there in May after an associate was intercepted in at Vancouver International airport carrying a large amount of cash. (Image: Globe and Mail)

Chinese-Australian Dan Bai Shun Jin, 54, was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on June 13 — the day after Canadian border control intercepted a woman at Vancouver International with a large sum of cash, intended for Jin.

Border agents discovered that Jin was the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the state of Nevada for allegedly passing $1.4 million in bad checks in Las Vegas casinos.

Australian authorities have been investigating Jin for a number of years over alleged large-scale casino-based money laundering in Australia, the US, Macau and Singapore.

Dan Bai Shun Jin Gambled $850 Million

Between 2005 and 2013, Jin gambled around $850 million at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, despite declaring an income to tax authorities of $300,000 a year. He once won $17 million gambling at Crown, according to documents filed to the Australian Supreme Court.

A $1.7 million house he purchased in California using funds transferred to a Bank of America account he held with his wife has been impounded by US authorities.

The RCMP claim a search of Jin’s room at the River Rock after his arrest uncovered “documents relating to crime proceedings involving Mr. Jin in Australia.”

An Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Vancouver ruled earlier this month that Jin will be deported to Australia.

Cover-Up at River Rock?

But meanwhile, the BC lawsuit claims Jin’s casino chips and money “are proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity.”

“The casino chips and money have been used by Mr. Jin to engage in unlawful activities which variously resulted in, or were likely to result in, the acquisition of property, or interest in property, or cause, or were likely to cause serious bodily harm,” it alleges.

Recent investigations by the RCMP and provincial gaming regulator suggest that anti-money laundering violations have become endemic in BC casinos over the past few years, a fact, it has been claimed, was covered up by the previous provincial government.

River Rock, in particular, has been accused of regularly accepting large amounts of unsourced funds in low denomination bills from Asian VIPs, with reports of “clandestine drop-offs” of large amounts of cash in the casino parking lot in the middle of the night.

On Wednesday, the provincial government will publish a 250-page report on casino-based money laundering which is expected to contain 45 recommendations on how to tackle the problem.