According to an investigation by a number of journalists with the Journal de Montreal (here), two casinos managed by Loto-Quebec, a government agency, laid out the red carpet to well-known organized crime figures associated with the Cosa Nostra Mafia and Hell’s Angels. Stefano Sollecito was VIP gambler Their investigation found that Stefano Sollecito, said to […]
Project Endgame York Regional Police in Ontario announced the arrest of 29 people following the raid of an alleged illegal underground casino at a 20,000 square-foot mansion in Markham, Ontario, during the summer. The operation dubbed “Project Endgame”, resulted in several raids of alleged illegal underground casinos operating in York region. The first bust was […]
The proceeds of crime from a massive US$550 million Ponzi scheme perpetrated by two convicted fraudsters in the US – Kevin Merrill and Jay Ledford – are being auctioned at an online auction house starting next week, in part because of Covid-19. Diamonds, sports memorabilia, art, gold coins, comic book from securities fraud being sold […]
Calabria and Toronto York Regional Police, north of Toronto, Canada, made a major money laundering bust last week against the ‘Ndrangheta, arresting several of its alleged members including its alleged leader, Angelo Figliomeni. Figliomeni is charged with money laundering, directing a criminal organization and fraud. Another eight alleged associates of Figliomeni were arrested on various […]
According to this article, the 18 executives of Crown casinos that were arrested in China in October 2016, were in China to collect the debts of what are called “VIP customers” who go on gambling trips through junket schemes. One of the people arrested was Jason O’Connor, who was the VIP executive for Crown Casinos, […]
According to several news reports in Italy (here, here and here), a whole family of the ‘Ndrangheta, an international criminal organization that originated in Italy, was convicted Wednesday of illegally operating online gambling websites after a three year trial called “Black Monkey”. Nicola Femia, his daughter and two sons were sentenced to 56 years incarceration collectively […]
A Q&A on money laundering for casinos and online regulated poker websites 1. Executive Summary Money laundering is a process in which so-called ‘dirty money’ from the proceeds of crime is transformed into ‘clean money’ or legitimate money or other assets, such as cars, art, homes or investments. Money laundering typically occurs in three stages: […]
Largest civil asset recovery case in US of this kind On July 20, 2016, the US Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture case in California to recover assets of more than $1 billion in alleged proceeds of crime resulting from fraud allegedly committed by individuals associated with the Malaysian government’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (“1MDB“). […]
In a report released yesterday on serious organized crime called “Exploring Tomorrow’s Organized Crime” (the “Report“), Europol found that organized crime is now becoming a virtual activity over the Internet and as a result, transnational criminal organizations (“TCO“) are migrating towards virtual payment methods to conduct commercial affairs, including digital payments. According to Europol, the […]
Money Laundering Bulletin in the UK has a good article out today on the anti-corruption drive in China and its impact on the casinos in Macau, which explores the anti-money laundering lapses and lack of legislation in the gambling industry in Macau, and the corresponding increase of trade-based money laundering in China. Trade-based money laundering According […]