B.C. Authorities Aim to Seize $880k in Money Laundering Case

British Columbia authorities have officially applied to seize C$880k from an accused party suspected of laundering the money through various casinos in Canada. The amount, C$880k, is equivalent to about $650k in the United States. 

This comes after a Kansas City Chiefs superfan was also sentenced for bank robberies, but also stealing $800k and laundering the proceeds. 

Who Allegedly Laundered the Money? 

The person suspected of laundering the money is Tujie Lai. Lai claims he became a multimillionaire through the junket market in Macau. Junket is a milk-based dessert. However, he is wanted in China for extortion, kidnapping, and leading a criminal gang. 

In Canada, he was found to be gambling regularly at Richmond, B.C.’s River Rock Casino. According to B.C.’s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, his gambling was done in a way that could be indicative of money laundering. 

Suspicious Bundles of Cash

In this case, court documents reveal that Lai purchased about $250k worth of casino chips in July 2017 but later cashed out a total of $610k during that same time. 

In November 2018, he converted $20k, which came in bundles of $100 bills, into chips at River Rock. 

In the filings, it was claimed that the money was grouped together with an elastic band that “was not consistent with standard banking practices.”

Then, in December 2019, Lai then showed back up to River Rock with close to $10k. He had a dozen bundles of $20 and $50 bills. The number is important because it wasn’t exactly $10k, which is the minimum threshold for casinos to report cash transactions. This was, again, indicative of potential money laundering. 

This came at a time when River Rock was used often in what was considered a money laundering epidemic in B.C. 

Illegal Border Crossing Attempt

Before Lai went back to River Rock in December 2019, he attempted to cross the United States and Canada border ilegally. He managed to flee U.S. Border Patrol back into Canada while on foot. He was then detained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and handed back over into US custody and then back to the CBSA. 

This past Tuesday, a filing to the B.C. Supreme Court indicated that Lai’s wife paid the money that the authorities want to seize to the CBSA in October 2019 to get him out of custody. 

Back then, Lai was considered an Interpol red notice and accused of multiple crimes like extortion, assault, perjury, and more.