US Border Patrol Arrests Chinese Gang Leader Laundering Money From Macau Casinos in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, Canada — Tujie Lai, a Chinese national and alleged transnational gangster living in Vancouver, wanted on an Interpol Red Notice for violent loan sharking, including kidnapping and extortion, is now at the center of a complex web of Chinese casino operations and underground banking transactions.

He is accused of laundering millions through wire transfers from entities in Asia, including through his child’s bank account, while operating under the radar of Canadian regulators tasked with tracking money laundering in casinos, banks and the real estate sector.

But Lai seems to have made one big mistake.

His attempt to evade U.S. border patrol after illegally crossing the border landed him in the hands of U.S. law enforcement, who turned him over to Canadian border officials. This, according to The Office analysis led to intensified investigations in Canada into a striking paper trail left by Lai and his wife, Wenyi Chen, also a Chinese citizen, in several sectors of British Columbia.

According to a forfeiture claim filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canadian authorities are now seeking $880,000 in bail money tied to Lai and Chen, which they call proceeds of illegal activity.

An analysis of Lai’s case shows that his self-employment and Chen’s role as a homemaker fit with the broad indicators of money laundering activity in Vancouver’s real estate market that have emerged in previous investigations. journalistic investigations Through The Office — and patterns identified by experts such as Andy Yan, a leading Vancouver urban planner.

The details of the case — Lai’s apparent prominence within China’s underground banking networks and his free use of Vancouver’s financial system — appear to match the views of U.S. investigators such as David Asher, who believe the U.S. banking system is being manipulated in a fentanyl money laundering scheme by “command and control” networks in Toronto and also in British Columbia.

Lai’s journey from Macau to Vancouver is marked by a violent history linked to his alleged criminal organization. According to Interpol’s Red Notice, Lai’s network in Macau was deeply involved in loan sharking and junket operations in the region’s casinos.

The sector is notorious for loan sharking and gambling by gamblers.

According to US and Australian researchers, junkets, usually linked to powerful international triad organisations such as the 14K, Big Circle Gang and Sun Yee On, enable super-rich Chinese businessmen to secretly move money out of China to other countries. These groups often have ties to the elite of the Chinese Communist Party.

While these networks target gamblers, offering high-interest loans and forcing repayment through violence when debts are not paid, they are also suspected of serving strategic goals of the Chinese Communist Party, according to extensive investigations into junket affairs in Australia involving “VIPs”. including a cousin from President Xi Jinping, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

Between 2004 and 2018, Tujie Lai allegedly orchestrated a series of violent crimes related to his Macau casino fundraisers. These incidents included kidnapping, extortion, forcible confinement, hostage-taking, and multiple forms of assault, including with weapons and firearms. Lai’s tactics extended to criminal intimidation, harassment, and uttering threats, making him a feared figure in Macau’s casino underworld. In July 2009, he was convicted of two offences in China and sentenced to a prison term.

Whether he was actually imprisoned is unclear. And how Lai emigrated to Canada and set up his global money laundering networks with an Interpol Red Notice over his family is also a mystery, but not an unusual story in Vancouver.

Lai and his wife transferred CAD $12 million from Macau and Hong Kong to Canada, according to Canadian investigators. They also revealed they had CAD $100 million in assets in China.

The junket business apparently provided a steady flow of cash and customers in China who wanted to transfer their money through Canadian banks and casinos.

While in Vancouver, Lai expanded his operations by using local casinos as conduits to launder the proceeds of his criminal activities. According to authorities, Lai frequented several casinos in the Lower Mainland, including Richmond’s River Rock Casino, where he routinely conducted high-value transactions.

As the leader of a criminal organization that operated casinos in Macau, Lai was well-versed in the tactics required to conceal illicit funds. His activities extended beyond the casinos, with significant sums of money being moved between accounts both locally and internationally, and funds being nominally exported by legitimate Asian companies.

Lai and his wife, Wenyi Chen, owned a 3,800-square-foot home nestled in the middle of farmland in Delta, a suburb near the U.S. border. The home’s remote location — also near B.C. casinos and port facilities with ties to Chinese Triad tycoons, according to The Office Law enforcement sources — suggested an ideal base for Lai’s activities, allowing him to live quietly while orchestrating his transnational criminal enterprise. The proximity to the U.S. border also facilitated his illegal movements across international borders, such as the incident in July 2019 when Lai fled from U.S. Border Patrol after illegally crossing the border.

Cash flow through accounts

Between October 2018 and February 2020, Wenyi Chen received CAD$1.84 million and US$20,000 through wire transfers into her bank accounts from Tujie Lai and various companies in Hong Kong and Singapore.

At the same time, Lai himself received CAD 3.41 million in remittances from companies and individuals in Hong Kong and China between November 2018 and June 2019.

These transactions illustrate the complex international nature of Lai’s money laundering scheme, which involves moving funds through a network of accounts in multiple countries. On June 7, 2019, Chen deposited CAD$4 million into their child’s bank account, and just ten days later, on June 17, the entire sum was transferred to an unknown account at the same bank, further muddying the paper trail.

In addition, Chen made several other suspicious transfers: On July 5, 2019, she transferred USD $21,070 to a company in Hong Kong. Between July 29, 2019, and February 24, 2020, she moved CAD $300,000 and USD $250,000 between her own accounts. On July 30 and August 7, 2019, Chen transferred a total of USD $50,000 to an individual named Jianbin Mo.

These financial maneuvers, which involved moving large sums of money quickly through multiple accounts, are typical of money laundering operations, as funds are shuffled to avoid detection by authorities. The involvement of international wire transfers, casino chip exchanges, and the use of family members’ accounts underscore the complexity and scale of Lai’s money laundering network.

But conversely, Lai’s access to byzantine and sophisticated money laundering channels did not exclude him from more grim transactions consistent with indicators of drug money laundering. He appears to have been blocked from a casino transaction about a year after the Vancouver sun Exposed widespread money laundering at a particular casino in the suburb of Richmond.

In November 2018, “Lai visited the River Rock Casino and presented two bundles of $100 bills totaling $20,000 in U.S. currency, each of which was tied with a single elastic band across the center of the bills and generally packaged in a manner inconsistent with standard banking practices,” the court documents said. “The exchange was refused by the casino and the funds were returned to Lai.”

Although Lai long appeared to operate effortlessly under the noses of Canadian officials, his cover was blown in July 2019 when he was caught illegally crossing the US-Canada border.

After eluding U.S. Border Patrol agents and crossing into Canada on foot, Lai was apprehended at the border by the Surrey RCMP. He initially evaded capture, but in October 2019, he was returned to Canada by U.S. authorities and detained by the Canadian Border Services Agency on an Interpol Red Notice.

While Lai was released on $880,000 CAD bail, the incident led to a deeper investigation into his financial dealings. The bond money itself is now at the center of a civil forfeiture claim, with Canadian authorities alleging the funds are the proceeds of crime linked to his extensive money laundering operations.

Lai’s financial activities fit squarely into what has become known as the “Vancouver Model” of money laundering. The system, first discovered in British Columbia casinos in 2014, involves transnational criminal organizations, wealthy Chinese nationals, and the Canadian real estate and casino industries. The Vancouver Model allows criminals to move large sums of money undetected by laundering cash through casinos, real estate transactions, and banks.

If The Office reported that when casinos in Canada temporarily closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, money laundering operations evolved. According to a 2023 FINTRAC study, professional launderers began using real estate, securities, and legal services as new channels for laundering money. FINTRAC analyzed 48,000 Chinese diaspora bank transactions during the pandemic and found that wire transfers from Hong Kong to Canadian accounts increased significantly, with these accounts often used to funnel money into real estate transactions.

Lai’s case reflects these findings. His complex web of transactions — involving casinos, wire transfers from Hong Kong and suspicious activity in the real estate market — shows how the Vancouver Model has been expanded to include sophisticated international money laundering schemes. The Office Investigations have revealed that similar practices are taking place in Toronto, with large sums of money being moved through questionable mortgages issued by Canadian banks, further inflating property prices.

For Tujie Lai, his legal battle is now the main focus. The Office Analysis shows that Lai has not yet responded to the claim and his current whereabouts are unknown.

While Lai’s story may seem unique in its scale and complexity, it serves as a stark reminder of a much larger problem. The models of money laundering in Vancouver and Toronto highlight how Canada’s real estate, casino and banking sectors have become key arenas for transnational organized crime — and how the regulatory framework, despite years of public concern, still struggles with enforcement.

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