The latest news from the Cullen Commission of inquiry into money laundering at casinos across British Columbia has heard coverup claims of sexual assault at the notorious River Rock Casino.
The latest testimony at the Cullen Commission has disclosed coverup attempts of sexual assault by a high-ranking executive at the disreputable River Rock Casino in Richmond. According to claims, the VIP executive tried to hush up a sexual violation act by one of the casino’s VIP players, requesting that the affected staff member refrains from contacting the police.
According to Alison Latimer, the lawyer representing the commission, River Rock Casino has been labelled as a venue that avoided taking action against criminal syndicates that used laundered money on its premises. Such actions were looked through the fingers since the suspect transactions were sizeable.
River Rock Casino To-dos
Latimer added that River Rock Casino failed to report 266 suspicious cash transactions despite the ongoing investigations since amounts under CA$50,000 were not subjected to any verification. Terrance Doyle, the CEO of the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which administers the River Rock Casino, defended the casino’s actions by saying that sums were not considered suspicious since gamblers “were playing in a reasonable manner”.
Further testimony revealed that the casino’s VIP-room manager at the time, Lisa Gao, was romantically involved with Li Lin Sha, who made over 450 large cash transactions at the casino. Record show that Sha has been one of the most active players at the casino since 2010.
A report that the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) drafted in 2017 revealed that, on one occasion, Sha and Gao arrived intoxicated at the VIP room in 2016. The Chinese criminal kingpin then proceeded to assault a female staff member sexually. Gao then used her contacts at the casino to ensure that this incident never reached the police.
Gao was also closely monitored by the BCLC in relation to several other incidents. This included a further assault on a casino employee in 2017, as well as an approval of a CA$200,000 transaction by a previously banned VIP player.
Crown Corporation Welcomed Dubious Cash
The inquiry further heard testimony from former Great Canadian Gaming Corporation employee Walter Soo, who admitted that the company regularly accepted unregulated cash. Soo, who headed the company’s VIP programme, was assigned to attract Chinese high-rollers, many of whom were playing at the River Rock Casino.
