Man was in B.C. to launder money: RCMP
High-stakes gambler from Australia arrested at River Rock Casino, ordered deported
VANCOUVER — An Australian highstakes gambler, who was ordered deported after an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing Tuesday, was in B.C. to launder money, the RCMP allege.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Mounties said a search warrant executed for alleged international money-launderer Dan Bai Shun Jin’s River Rock Casino hotel room provided investigators with documents of Jin’s involvement in money laundering and a recent money-movement scheme.
Police said that scheme involved a female money courier who picked up $25,000 from an unidentified man in a parking lot in Las Vegas and was to deliver it to Jin, an Australian citizen who is originally from China.
The RCMP information provides details not revealed at the deportation hearing.
Jin, 55, came to the attention of B.C. authorities when the woman was stopped with the money at the Vancouver airport.
Jin was arrested May 25 at the River Rock Casino in Richmond while playing baccarat and had chips valued at $75,000 and some cash.
The investigation and arrest of Jin involved the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency, B.C.’s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit’s joint illegal-gaming investigation team, B.C. Lottery Corp.’s security and was supported by River Rock Casino surveillance.
Police said the combined actions “prevented an alleged international money launderer from using B.C. casinos as a conduit for illicit transactions.”
In a statement, Supt. Henry Tso of the RCMP’s financial integrity unit in B.C. said the agencies’ effort has resulted in “deterring money laundering at B.C. casinos.”
In response to questions, the RCMP director of B.C. communications, Dawn Roberts, said the items seized in the hotel room were paper documents, but details couldn’t be provided because of international interest in Jin.
B.C. government documents obtained by Postmedia through freedom of information requests revealed that $650 million in suspicious transactions flowed through B.C. casinos between 2010 and 2016, two-thirds of it in $20 bills.
The deportation hearing found that Jin wasn’t admissible to Canada because he had outstanding warrants for passing about $1.4 million in bad cheques at several casinos in Las Vegas in 2014.
Canadian authorities were also concerned about multiple investigations in several countries, including Australia and the U.S.
According to Australian court documents, Jin is likely to be involved in large-scale, illegal, casino-based money laundering in Australia, the U.S., Macau and Singapore.
Part of the Australian probe revolves around Jin gambling about $850 million at a casino in Melbourne between 2005 and 2013.
Immigration and Refugee Board member Michael McPhalen, who adjudicated the deportation hearing, ruled Tuesday that Jin must remain in detention until he is deported, likely in seven to 10 days, because he is a flight risk.
Jin’s lawyer, Peter Edelmann, had argued there was little evidence of money laundering and said there was a stronger case that Jin was simply a high-stakes gambler. According to documents filed at the deportation hearing, Jin works as a marketer for a sports company in China.