>And the Salinas family (Former PResident of MExico).
does this have something to do with them?
A Richmond man who pleaded guilty in the U.S. to aiding the Sinaloa cartel and other international organized crime groups hid his illicit cash in bank accounts of shell companies he registered with the B.C. government.
Vincent Ramos had at least 10 other companies set up on top of Phantom Secure, the B.C.-registered entity he used to sell encrypted devices to criminal organizations around the world for a decade.
The U.S. government says he laundered $80 million earned enabling high-level criminals to hide drug deals and murder plots through Blackberries he promised could be instantly wiped clean to evade police.
This unit at 8191 Westminster Hwy used to house a UPS store that Vincent Ramos used as listed a Richmond UPS office on Westminster Highway as his personal address — not the Seagrave Road home in Richmond he shared with his family until it was recently sold as part of a U.S. forfeiture order.
Six of Ramos’s companies were set up through the B.C. Finance Ministry’s corporate registry between 2005 and 2017, according to a Vancouver Sun investigation.
In some of the cases, Ramos hired a law firm and then listed his corporation’s address as his lawyer’s office.
With at least two of his companies, his longtime accountant Ash Katey was the registering party, according to documents obtained by Postmedia.
Katey, who wrote a reference letter to support Ramos’s bail application after his arrest last year, declined to comment.
“I am about to retire from my profession and do not want to be bothered,” Katey said in an email this week when asked about his role in the two companies.
U.S. law enforcement agencies allege Vancouver company, Phantom Secure, was set up to help organized crime.
With most of Ramos’s B.C. companies, he listed a Richmond UPS office on Westminster Highway as his personal address — not the Seagrave Road home in Richmond he shared with his family until it was recently sold as part of a U.S. forfeiture order.
Critics say the ease with which Canadian companies can be set up and registered by organized criminals is troubling.
He said Canada needs a law similar to the American Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, under which Ramos was charged and pleaded guilty last fall. He is to be sentenced in San Diego later this month.
“Sadly we don’t have a RICO-type statute in this country or we would see more criminal forfeitures than we do,” Clement said. “The (Americans) are able to go after the assets in a big way.”
He said organized criminals need legally registered companies so that they can look legitimate when they go to financial institutions to open accounts.
“And all of a sudden now, they have got this great vehicle,” he said.
James Cohen, executive director of the non-profit anticorruption agency Transparency International Canada, agreed.
He said Canada needs a national searchable corporate registry — like one already operational in the U.K., to help tackle misuse of legal corporations by organized crime.
Right now, it’s “incredibly easy to set up a company” in Canada, he said.
moar here:
https://theprovince.com/news/crime/international-criminal-set-up-companies-in-b-c-to-launder-funds/wcm/4814f681-86db-443e-afdd-e09c70cbbbed