Criminal money laundering is so pervasive and gangsters so adept at corrupting and deceiving bankers, lawyers, realtors and insurance agents that policing it seems doomed to failure, according to a detailed probe conducted for the RCMP and obtained by the National Post.

[. . . .] "The police win a few battles, but they're losing the war," said Dr. Stephen Schneider, author of the report for the RCMP, when contacted by the Post.

"It is an inherently uneven playing field in favour of the bad guys."

Dr. Schneider, a criminologist with both St. Mary's University in Halifax and the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption at York University, was given unprecedented access to RCMP files.

. . . crime scenes to offshore banks . . . drug dealers to the retailers of luxury goods. . . a deposit institution . . . Canadian chartered banks . . . insurance industry . . . motor vehicles . . . real estate

[. . . . An] Ontario cocaine trafficker deposited more than $2-million into chartered banks between 1994 and 1997. Police found he had signing authority for 32 different bank accounts, including 11 foreign accounts; all of them were active with cash deposits, withdrawals and wire transfers.

[. . . .] Gangsters could not be successful in laundering money if it were not for the help of professionals, from bankers, security brokers and lawyers to accountants, travel agents and car dealers, the report shows.

[. . . .] "In a smaller number of cases the transaction was clearly suspicious, such as the use of large amounts of cash to purchase big ticket items; using multiple bank drafts from different banks to personally finance the purchase of a home; requests that lawyers purchase assets on behalf of a client through cheques issued from legal trust accounts; and the incorporation of numerous companies that carried out no legitimate businesses yet have significant amounts of cash deposited into corresponding bank accounts," the report says.

[. . . .] . . . an informant infiltrating the drug empire of the Hells Angels caught a conversation on tape of a biker recommending a dirty accountant. . .

"He worked 25 years for the government. [. . . .]

. . . corrupted professionals . . . increasing pressure from new laws and the efforts of dedicated police . . .

"One should... anticipate an increase in efforts by criminal organizations to corrupt industry professionals in order to by-pass or manipulate the transaction reporting requirements," the report says.

[. . . .] Dr. Schneider, a former researcher for the Solicitor General of Canada, culled through almost all cases successfully closed by RCMP between 1993 and 1998 that included a proceeds of crime seizure or money laundering charge involving more than $10,000. The cases also had to involve more than 40 hours of investigative time. [. . . .]
1993-98:

Where the cases come from: [. . . . Read the details by Province]

Source: Money Laundering in Canada: An Analysis of RCMP Cases, 2004

CRIMINAL TECHNIQUES:

[. . . . ] SMURFS: 1 Find a number of trustworthy people -- called "smurfs" -- to help you sneak money into the banks without raising suspicions. Give each smurf a big chunk of change. [. . . .]

CASINOS: [. . . .]

CO-MINGLE: 1 Establish a cash-intensive legitimate business or corrupt the owner of an already established enterprise. Restaurants are good picks. [. . . . ]