Chinese narcotics in Toronto ran ‘Command & Control’ fentanyl laundering network used in TD Bank case: US investigator

Toronto-Dominion Bank’s shockingly lax anti-money laundering (AML) program could be just the tip of the iceberg in the U.S. government’s investigation into a North American money laundering ring run by the Chinese Communist Party that laundered billions of dollars in fentanyl money through a “command and control” structure in Toronto. The revelation comes as more than 100,000 Americans and Canadians die each year in horrific fentanyl poisoning overdose deaths in what some are calling China’s “reverse opium wars.”

This week Sam Cooper, an investigative journalist behind the Substack “The Office,” published an interview with David Asher, a former senior researcher for the State Department. Asher explained that the Chinese command and control center for North American drug money laundering is controlled by Chinese Triad leaders like Tse Chi Lop, who work with the CCP to facilitate global money laundering and drug trafficking operations in which Mexican cartels flood the U.S. with illegal drugs.

Asher said this is all part of the CCP’s strategy to use drug cartels as a weapon against Western countries.

He noted, “TD is really the tip of a deep iceberg, I would say officially. What does the leadership of TD Bank in Canada know about what was going on in the U.S.?”

He added: “And then the question is, this is the US. So what the heck is going on with TD Bank in Canada? We don’t know.”

“So the Chinese government is funding the reverse opium war, and we know that for sure,” Asher explained.

Given TD’s failure to effectively monitor, detect and report suspicious activity from Chinese fentanyl money laundering networks, Asher pointed out: “And most of what we’re seeing comes from this TD Bank case, and there’s a lot more. We’ll see which of the big four U.S. banks gets named next.”

Here Here are the highlights from Cooper’s conversation with Asher:

• Chinese state-triad nexus: David Asher alleges that Chinese triads such as 14K and Sun Yee On have been co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party to facilitate global money laundering and drug trafficking.

• Toronto Command Center: US research shows that the most significant command and control operations for money laundering in North America are in Toronto and other Canadian cities.

• Chinese international students used as mules: According to Asher, Chinese students, who fall under Beijing’s foreign sphere of influence and are the United Front Work Department, are systematically used to deposit fentanyl money for Triads and Mexican cartels into North American banks.

• TD Bank under fire: TD Bank’s alleged involvement in laundering fentanyl-related funds has led to investigations by regulators and criminal justice agencies that could cost TD more than $4 billion, but Asher believes that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

• Major US banks: Investigators believe financial institutions have enabled international students “from China on student visas to deposit billions of dollars a month into the largest banks in the US,” Asher said.

• Canada’s inactivity: Asher criticizes the Canadian government for its lack of cooperation in the investigation into Tse Chi Lop and the broader Triad fentanyl trafficking and money laundering, suggesting that potential political and financial influences are hampering effective law enforcement.

• Fentanyl crisis link: The failure to disrupt these networks contributes to the ongoing fentanyl crisis, which claims tens of thousands of lives each year in the US and Canada.

• Beijing subsidizes methamphetamine trade: Asher revealed that US Congressional investigators allege that the People’s Republic is not only encouraging the export of fentanyl precursors, but also the sale of methamphetamine.

• Call to action: Asher, currently a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, calls for greater international cooperation and more aggressive measures to dismantle these sophisticated transnational criminal networks.

In mid-April, the House Select Committee revealed that the CCP used tax refunds to subsidize the production and export of fentanyl chemicals to Mexican cartels that produced illegal fentanyl drugs. Chinese organized criminals in the U.S. then laundered the proceeds. It’s essentially an end-to-end Chinese communist scheme.

Cooper noted on X that the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada “has full visibility into the large-scale laundering of fentanyl at major Canadian banks, but I believe Justin Trudeau and his office/cabinet need to make this a priority of the RCMP’s enforcement approach or nothing will happen.”

If you missed this exclusive broadcast of The Bureau, check out the chart @FINTRAC_Canada has full visibility into the massive fentanyl laundering operation in major Canadian banks, but I believe Justin Trudeau and his office/cabinet must make this a priority of the RCMP’s enforcement approach, otherwise nothing… photo.twitter.com/ZoBQfhhwCa

— Sam Cooper (@scoopercooper) August 30, 2024

Copper told ZeroHedge that his reporting from Vancouver revealed how the Triads first used Chinese students to funnel bags of drug money into casinos, and the casinos flushed those fentanyl funds into luxury condos and mansions, fueling Canada’s affordability crisis, along with fentanyl deaths. But as Covid shut down Canadian casinos, the Triads simply evolved, getting students to open bank accounts and funneling bundles of fentanyl money straight into bank deposits across North America.

The full explosive interview regarding the US government’s investigation into the CCP’s command and control money laundering network in North America can be viewed here. The Office.