https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/...seau-sophistique-demantele-a-toronto.phpMoney laundering: a sophisticated network dismantled in Toronto
The individuals arrested yesterday in the dismantling of a major money-laundering network in Toronto used several schemes, some of which were rarely sophisticated.
It is obviously because of this sophistication that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Collector's investigation team summoned the reporters this morning to C Division Headquarters, Dorchester Boulevard, to spread the word about the stratagems.
According to our information, the suspects provided "turnkey" money laundering services to drug traffickers who were independent or linked to criminal organizations, or to other criminals who needed to wash dirty money.
Tens of millions
There was no direct link between them and the traffickers. These were customers of the network. The alleged recyclers had several phones each and made only encrypted communications.
One of these schemes was the use of currency exchange offices in the Toronto area, where stacks of tickets, mainly from Quebec, were transported in vehicles.
Another would be a system of money transfers into a sort of parallel and illegal banking system, in which the sums were stagnant and would have passed through accounts in other countries, including Iran, Lebanon and the Arab Emirates. united, according to our information.
An RCMP investigator, Sergeant François-Olivier Myette, will explain this morning the tactics by which tens of millions of dollars have been laundered since the start of the Collector investigation in mid-2016.
Get on a 10 under
During the investigation, between May 2016 and August 2018, the police conducted several searches and seized large quantities of cannabis, cocaine, hashish and methamphetamine, as well as over 1.7 million in Canadian money and various currencies.
They also confiscated cell phones, including those of Charles Dubé, 27, of Pointe-Claire, in May 2017. Mr. Dubé went to court to recover his phones, which was opposed by the prosecution during one year and nine months.
Mr. Dubé was finally arrested on January 30 and charged with cocaine trafficking, possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, trafficking in money and money laundering.
He was released on February 4 pending further proceedings, for a deposit of $ 3,000 and after pledging not to have more than $ 500, not to communicate with people involved in drug trafficking and not owning more than one cell phone.
Operation advanced?
The arrest and appearance of the accused may have precipitated yesterday's operation.
"The offense before you [the judge] is one year and nine months old. The reason we did not arrest him was that there is an ongoing investigation into the pan-Canadian wiretap virtually. There should be several accused will be arrested soon, so the disclosure of the evidence now is incomplete, I guess to protect certain sources that are currently in the investigation, "said Mr. Dubé's lawyer, M th Stéphan Beaudin, February 4th.
During the course of the proceedings, an RCMP investigator filed affidavits stating that 550 watches had been conducted and 18,000 intercepts intercepted on May 28, 2018. As of September 24, 305 judicial authorizations had been signed by judges, and the policewoman indicated that the main report to prosecutors would be 800 pages long.
Returned by plane
More than 300 police officers from the RCMP's Division C Crime Incidental Unit (Quebec), RCMP in Ontario, Laval, Montreal and Toronto took part in the operation yesterday.
At least a dozen searches were carried out and 19 individuals were targeted, 12 in the Montreal area and 7 in the Toronto area. At the time of writing, three suspects were still wanted.
According to our information, one of the accused would be connected to a former member of the Hells Angels. Another defendant, Mario Maratta, 64, has already been sentenced to four years in prison in October 2003 in a conspiracy case for cocaine trafficking. In 2009, he was observed in a Sûreté du Québec investigation called Matamore, which targeted cocaine importers. According to court documents, Maratta was suspected of being a cocaine distributor who was sourcing from a certain Salvatore D'Urso and who paid royalties to a member of the Hells Angels of Sherbrooke at that time. D'Urso was arrested and charged in Matamore, but not Maratta. The latter is a wholesaler in automobiles and owns at least one company.
Some of the suspects arrested in Toronto were transported to Montreal aboard an RCMP-owned aircraft. They were brought to the Laval Police Headquarters for interrogation. They will be charged with conspiracy, money smuggling and money laundering.
The Canada Revenue Agency is also involved in the file and there is talk of blocking more than 15 million properties owned by the suspects.
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The list of accused
Eric Bradette, Sorin Ehrlich, Tania Gramian-Nik, Nader Gramian-Nik (alleged leader of the network in Toronto), Kamel Ghaddar, Thomas Hsueh, Mohamad Jaber, Francisco Javier Jimenez-Guerrero, Shabnam Mansouri, Mario Maratta, Gary Maybee, Alexei Parasenco Frederick Rayman, Sahar Shojaei, Mohammadreza Skeikhhassani, Victor Vargotskii and Sergio Violetta-Galvez
