Canada’s dirty money: how big is the problem?

The worrying rise of money laundering

An estimated $356.06B was laundered in Canada between 2006-2015. That’s an eyebrow-raising figure and a mega increase of over $150B when compared to the previous decade’s statistic of $168.39B, between 1996-2005.

Note: Following a period of relative stability in the early part of the decade, the rate of money laundering grew five-fold from 2004 to 2006. Since 2006, there has been little year-over-year fluctuation. The current rate is approx 2.1% of GDP. All figures are shown in CAN$.

How much cash is laundered through casinos?

Money laundering is a growing and serious problem for Canada’s casinos. Why? We asked the experts. Managing Attorney and Lead Trial Counsel, Hoelscher, says that the popularity of using casinos is partly due to gaming being one of the few “remaining industries that still deals with large cash transactions.” He adds: “Gambling venues are attractive because of the huge cash flow in normal business operations.”

Investigations Attorney, Braden Perry, agrees but also highlights a number of other factors. These include the lack of “customer information provided to casinos”, overlooked “suspicious activity reports” in favour of “maintaining high-roller clientele”, and “efforts to fight money laundering” being directed towards other industries, such as real estate.

Atlantic Canada

The figure for the years 2003-2010 is an estimate. As no studies were conducted for this period, our researchers calculated an estimate by evaluating a number of news reports and government authorities

Canada’s most dangerous mafias

It is common for Mafia groups to use laundered money to buy houses and other luxury items rather than keeping cold, hard cash hidden under their beds.

The reason for this, says Hoelscher, is that they “can't keep the required volume of cash without arousing suspicion. […] By purchasing assets, especially investment assets, they create the appearance of conducting legitimate business.” Additionally: “Many luxury items, such as gold jewellery, are largely untraceable,” meaning they can be “converted quickly back into cash.”

What happens to Mafia cash and goods when they are seized is not as clear-cut. “The government can keep the property or sell it,” says Hoelscher. “Dangerous items such as firearms are typically destroyed. Otherwise, in Canada, forfeiture laws vary.” Here we take a look at some of the most notorious Mafias and what happened when they got caught:

Angelo Figliomeni

• Arrested: July 2019

• Total seized: $35 million

• Laundering: For 5 years

• Sentence: NOT YET CONVICTED

• Laundered through: Ontario casinos

What has been seized:

🏠 x 27 🚘 x 23 💵 $1m ⌚ $1m

Figliomeni’s 27 homes added up to a value of $24 million and his 23 luxury vehicles were worth $3.5 million, which included five Ferraris. He also had gaming machines, ATM machines and $1 million in cash, not to mention the $1 million in jewellery and Rolex watches.

York Regional Police arrested eight men and one woman when they finally caught the 56-year-old who was leading the organization that laundered more than $70 million in Toronto-area casinos.

Antonio Carbone

• Arrested: January 2015

• Total seized: $10 million

• Laundering: For 4+ years

• Sentence: 20 YEARS

• Laundered through: Dream Corporation

Antonio Carbone and his brother Francesco are the founders of the multi-million-dollar Dream Casino group. This was basically a chain of rogue casinos in the Dominican Republic, which were built for the purpose of laundering money for Canadian mafias. It also included sports betting parlours and lottery kiosks. Antonio Carbone was sentenced to 20 years in a Dominican Republic prison for attempted murder in December 2017.

Vito Rizzuto

• Arrested: January 2004

• Total seized: $700 million

• Laundering: For 30+ years

• Sentence: 10 YEARS

• Laundered through: Montreal Casinos

What has been seized:

💼 x 22

Rizzuto, aka "Montreal's Teflon Don", was widely considered to be the head of the Sicilian Mafia in Canada. At the time of his arrest in 2004, he was running a loan shark operation through the Montreal Casino. A whopping total of US$212 million of goods was seized, including 22 companies and various properties.

Dan Bui Shun Jin

• Arrested: May 2018

• Total seized: $75,000

• Laundering: N/A

• Sentence: DEPORTED

• Laundered through: Richmond's River Rock Casino

This international money launderer was arrested in Canada for illegally washing money through Richmond’s River Rock Casino. He is suspected of laundering $855 million through Australian casinos, as well as millions through casinos in the US, Singapore and Macau.

Yury Dinabursky

• Arrested: December 9, 1999

• Total Seized: $500,000

• Laundering: For 2 years

• Sentence: 15 MONTHS

• Laundered Through: All Canada

What has been seized:

💊 x 300 lb steroid pills

Dinaburksy was the leading man of one of the biggest Eastern European organized crime groups of the 90s. He and 40 other Russian Mafia members were arrested in Canada and the US in December 1999.

As a group, they produced fraudulent debit and credit cards using special electronic equipment (later seized) that captured card data. They then used the cards across various casinos. The syndicate was also involved with drug trafficking, fraud (casino and immigration visas), counterfeiting diamonds and car theft.

Billy Miller, Gordon Baird, Martin Spruce & David Hair

• Arrested: February 2013

• Total seized: $4.6 million

• Laundering: For 4+ years

• Sentence: 15 MONTHS

• Laundered through: Platinumsb.com

What has been seized:

🖥️ 📱 💼 x 20

The operators of Platinum Sports Book, an illegal sports betting ring in Ontario that was allegedly linked to the Mafia and Hells Angels, got caught out for their criminal activity. Between 2009 and 2013, the company grossed more than $103 million. The police seized a massive $4.6 million in cash during its probe.

They also hosted a lavish, invite-only Super Bowl party north of Toronto in 2013. This was a huge illegal gambling house where over 2,300 people could enjoy an open bar and luxury prizes, including a motorcycle and Sea-Doo.

Our expert contributors

Looking forward, there are understandably questions about how money laundering is being tackled. Hoelscher explains that “the U.S. AML regime contains a number of features that the Canadian regime does not. The discussion in Canada now appears focused on adopting those characteristics of U.S. AML policy and enforcement. This trend began with David Eby’s 2018 release of the “German Report,” which made 48 recommendations for combating money laundering in British Columbia’s casinos.”

As for what the future holds for Canadian casinos, Hoelscher warns that they should prepare for increases in AML compliance budgets: “Casinos can expect increased scrutiny by regulators, higher record keeping and compliance costs, and probably less cash but may not see a huge change in electronic transfers.”

He explains that the measures “will focus mainly on identifying players and tracking their funds, although identification of individuals involved in electronic transactions or using virtual currencies is less stringent.” With its crackdown on money laundering in casinos, Canada is changing the state of play.

Braden Perry

Braden Perry works as a litigation, regulatory and government investigations attorney with Kansas City-based Kennyhertz Perry, LLC.

Joseph Hoelscher 

Joseph Hoelscher is the Managing Attorney and Lead Trial Counsel at the law firm Hoelscher Gebbia Cepeda PLLC.

NOTE: A model was created to estimate many of the figures that match the values provided by official authorities. Some experts suggest that the real figures are much higher. However, they provide no proof of their allegations.

Share this page

Methodology

We used a social listening tool called Falcon to track the last three months of social media to gather this data. The results you’re looking at are the result of quarter of a million social media mentions! Just goes to show, people love to hate.

Fair Use Statement

Interested in sharing this content? That’s great. We just ask that you attribute OnlineCasino.ca fairly in your coverage and provide a link to this page so that your audience can learn more about our work.

About OnlineCasino.ca

OnlineCasino.ca has been providing players with comprehensive casino reviews and rankings, exclusive bonus offers and expert game guides since 2011. We’re not the only casino review site to launch in Canada, but we stand out from the crowd because of our ‘player-first’ values, our quality of content, and our ability to source the best deals in the industry.

Data and information collected in 2021.  2024 OnlineCasino.ca. All Rights Reserved.