Sam Cooper is an award-winning investigative journalist and author of Wilful Blindness: How a Criminal network of narcos, tycoons and Chinese Communist Party agents infiltrated the West. He has presented his findings on corruption, money laundering and transnational crime to law enforcement agencies, legal and financial professionals, and academics, internationally.
On August 16, 2022, Veritas Investment Research President and CEO Anthony Scilipoti and Mr. Cooper discussed:
• Origins: How a deal was made back in 1982 where the Chinese Communist Party would get business assistance from the Hong Kong tycoon elites to invest internationally and these high-level businessmen with underground financial connections would get assistance and protection from the Chinese Communist Party. “I found this was very influential to investment trends in Canada in banking, real estate and of course, casinos.”
• The Vancouver model and how money gets out of China: How drug money in Canada has been laundered through loans to Chinese “whale” gamblers visiting Vancouver government-run casinos. The gambling loans are then paid back later to triad organized crime in China. “The flow of funds through this underground banking system is off the charts.”
• How this money laundering flows into real estate: “I was reliably informed that in Vancouver real estate, for every dollar that’s spent, 30 cents of that dollar or 30% of Vancouver’s real estate market can be ultimately tied to funds from mainland China.”
• Canadian regulator complacency: “I’m talking about a volume of cases and evidence, powerful and sensitive cases that Fintrac has knowledge of, that never make it anywhere near a real police investigation, let alone a judicial prosecution.” How Canada’s Charter of Rights has become a powerful defence tool.
• How Canadian Banks receive money transfers from Hong Kong currency exchanges: “It would be prudent for Canadian investors to be curious and skeptical about the integrity of our financial institutions because I believe there are more bombshells to come out.”
The Fact Finders Series: In each episode, we go on the ground to speak to industry professionals in an unscripted candid video format to discover how we can make better investment decisions. In this series and in everything we do, we believe that facts empower investors and that better information leads to better investment decisions.
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