Alleged casino mastermind met twice with Trudeau
The news that emerged last week about Wei Wei was attention-grabbing to say the least.
Police announced the Toronto-area real estate developer had been charged after officers raided a lavish, wellarmed and illegal casino that was uniquely located inside a sprawling mansion.
Wei is alleged to have been the mastermind behind the high-end “Mackenzie No. 5 Club,” where police seized an assault rifle from his bedroom, gaming tables and more than $1 million in cash.
“The money moving through these underground casinos leads to huge profits for criminals that fund other ventures such as prostitution and drug trafficking,” York Regional Police said in a statement last week.
Not long ago, however, the businessman accused of being at the centre of it all was moving in some of Canada’s loftiest business and political circles, partly as an advocate for China.
Wei met at least twice in 2016 with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, including at a controversial Liberal fundraiser in the home of another wealthy entrepreneur.
Wei also was among a delegation of four representing a Chinese governmentendorsed industry group that met separately with Trudeau. Another member of the delegation donated $1 million to the Trudeau Foundation and the erection of a statue honoring the prime minister’s father.
Both the fundraising event and the gift fed a controversy over alleged cash-for-access schemes that gave rich donors face time with Trudeau. The uproar prompted the Liberals to reform their fundraising rules.
Liberal spokesman Matteo Rossi did not address questions about Wei specifically, but said the party now has the toughest and most transparent standards for fundraising in federal politics. That includes allowing media coverage of events and hosting them in publicly accessible spaces.
“As his party’s new leader, it’s time that Erin O’Toole also did the right thing and committed to stop barring journalists from the Conservative party’s behind-closed-doors fundraising events,” said Rossi.
York Regional Police painted an eye-opening picture of the underground casino they found in the suburbs north of Toronto. Wei and his wife, Xing Yue Chen, bought the opulent, 20,000-squarefoot estate in 2015 for $4.7 million, with a mortgage of $3 million, property records indicate. Police say it’s now worth $9 million.
As part of a series of raids carried out in July, but only announced last week, officers seized $1.5 million in highquality liquor and wine and 11 guns, as well as gambling equipment.
The house appeared to have bedrooms for the use of its clients, and allegedly may have been trafficking women for prostitution, officers said. Police who had approached the home earlier allegedly faced intimidation from guards posted there, they said.
Wei, 52, his wife, 48, and 25-year-old daughter were charged with keeping a common gaming house and other offences. But the operation’s existence was not exactly a closely held secret. Postmedia obtained an elegantly printed invitation from Wei that announced a “soft opening cocktail party” for what it called the “Mackenzie No. 5 Club.”
Hundreds of people attended the event in November 2019, including a number of local politicians, said an acquaintance of Wei’s who asked not to be named. She remembers line-ups of people waiting to take selfies with the “VIPs.”
Though the source did not notice formal casino equipment, she said she saw many of the guests playing cards and gambling there.
How Wei went from a wellconnected property developer to an alleged black-market gaming boss is not clear.
Wei couldn’t be reached for comment, but the source said he came to Canada about 10 years ago under the investorimmigrant program. As head of Skywalk Investment, he’s known for buying and selling real estate in the Toronto area, serving on a committee of the Canada-China Realty Professional Association, which says it is dedicated to encouraging development and investment opportunities in the two countries.