Lucky money launderers get to keep casino cash

Lady luck has always been a presence in land-based casinos but for a pair of accused money launderers in British Columbia, lady luck has turned out to be more than a legend. They’re walking away from accusations of using a casino to launder illicit cash with all their assets in tact thanks to a minor legal technicality.
At the heart of the case that was recently heard by a Canadian provincial court is the accusation that Caixuan Qin and Jian Jun Zhu were using a money transfer company called Silver International Investment to launder cash for Chinese high rollers. They were eventually charged with five counts of money laundering, failure to comply with due diligence laws regarding their customers, and possession of property via criminal activity. That’s when lady luck left the casino and visited the court room.
Thanks to an error by the prosecution, the name of a police confidential informant was inadvertently released during the discovery process. The value of this particular informant was so significant to law enforcement that prosecutors agreed to drop the case rather than risk letting his or her identity become public. That, however, did not prevent BC’s Civil Forfeiture Office getting in on the action.
The Civil Forfeiture Office grabbed about $1.5 million worth of assets from the couple for their troubles. A Canadian court decided this week that that wasn’t the deal. BC Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes told the parties involved that prosecutors had not effectively argued their case and that the seizure of assets could not proceed.
But while getting back $2 million worth of assets looks good on paper, it didn’t turn out to be such a great deal in the end. By the time the mortgage on their home was paid off, the pair only walked away with about $200,000, according to a report in the Vancouver Sun.