York police raid $9M Markham mansion, discover illegal casino and spa

Home » York police raid $9M Markham mansion, discover illegal casino and spa

The police sources said that 5 Decourcy Court was used as the venue for an orgy of illegal decadence over a span of many months. But the potential casino bust of the largest scale ever somehow turned into nothing, and the entire investigation collapsed with the shutter. TORONTO — A 20,000 square foot mansion, more than $1 million in cash and 11 firearms were seized as police north of Toronto dismantled an illegal casino and spa. Investigators with the York Regional Police Guns, Gangs and Drug Enforcement Unit said they seized 11 guns and more than $1 million in cash when they raided the mansion as part of a probe into illegal gaming and organized crime. Last year, York Regional Police launched an investigation named “Project Endgame,” which unearthed a series of underground casinos. The busts were announced at the end of last summer with a glossy police video featuring aerial surveillance footage of a lavish mansion in Markham, Ont., north of Toronto, and of officers raiding the home and taking away baccarat tables. An investigation into illegal gaming houses launched in May by York Regional Police has resulted in the seizure of a 20,000 square foot mansion, 11 firearms and $1 million in cash. On Wednesday September 30, 2020 CBC News published an article on the York Region Police’s discovery of an illegal casino and “spa” operating in a 20,000 square foot mansion in Markham. This follows a bust in Woodland Acres in the City of Vaughan just a few months prior. While searching the Kitchener property the police officers have found and seized a series of items used for unregulated gambling.

Flipping one of the visitors may be tough or, worse, dangerous for that civilian. One of his biggest properties is placed near Stouffville, with a short stroll to the Lincolnville GO stop. Wei paid $50 million for this swath of land and transformed it into a housing estate. It was called Elm Villa and marketed as “a major new master-planned community” full of green spaces with easy access to nearby trails and parks. The development was oriented toward seniors in search of downsize and first-time buyers. After months of investigating the site, officers were ready to execute their search warrant on July 17, Slack said.

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It was found inside a bedroom at the property and was “available within easy access to anyone in the room should a threat, or perceived threat, arise,” investigators said. No one was injured in the July 23 raid, in which 92 tactical officers stormed the mansion. Their arrests were part of a police operation called Project End Game, which also involved raids on residences in Toronto and Vaughan. A spokesman for the Ministry of the Attorney-General said four other people arrested during the bust remain before the courts. Police and prosecutors are not speaking to these allegations, which have not been proven in court. They have been the subject of a police internal-affairs investigation since March, when the force was independently apprised of the issues by prosecutors. On July 30, a warrant was executed at a home on Woodland Acres in Vaughan. And a collection of separate confidential RCMP documents show that some of these suspects have also been targeted by law enforcement in weapons, human trafficking and illegal hunting junket investigations. In 2016 and 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in at least a handful of fundraising events in the Toronto and Vancouver regions that featured wealthy entrepreneurs such as Wei.

Alleged Owner of Illegal Casino Operation a Guest at Controversial Cash-for-Access Fundraiser With Trudeau – The Epoch Times

Alleged Owner of Illegal Casino Operation a Guest at Controversial Cash-for-Access Fundraiser With Trudeau.

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To investigate the theft allegations, the lawyers contrasted the evidence files provided in disclosure from the Crown with the time-stamped footage of the goods seized on the night of the bust. In the initial search of Wei’s bedroom at 5 Decourcy, the watches are clearly visible. When their absence was brought to the attention of the Crown, York police could not account for their whereabouts. Slack says the police had no grounds to seize the watches, since there was no indication that they were the proceeds of a crime. As of early July, the watches hadn’t materialized and the matter was still under investigation.

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Upstairs was a series of bedrooms that appeared to operate as a bed and breakfast, and investigators also said they found a fully loaded AR-15 rifle with a 30-round magazine along with a 9-mm handgun. According to police, the Crown withdrew all charges against Wei earlier this month, and he has entered into a common law peace bond — an order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour with certain conditions — for a two-year period. Over several nights in May 2020, Slack and his team set up RIDE sobriety-testing stops just a few hundred metres from each other. By the wee hours, they’d pulled over several luxury cars leaving the party at 5 Decourcy. They gave the drivers breathalyzer tests and, unsurprisingly, found that some of them were over the legal limit. About a decade ago, he was granted entry to Canada, possibly as part of the now-defunct Immigrant Investor Program, which was invented to attract wealthy foreigners to invest and settle in Canada—or at the very least maintain a home and business here. Applicants were required to demonstrate that they had a personal net worth of at least $1.6 million, and make a guaranteed investment of $800,000 of their own funds over five years. He married a woman named Xiang Yue, and the couple later had a daughter and a son. Wei stoically played the role of family man and local captain of industry as Tonji’s fortunes grew.

His story originates with the largest city and also the capital of the landlocked Chinese province Anhui – Hefei. In the year 2004, Wei used to work at a construction firm on the verge of bankruptcy – Feidong Shuian. He was a hopeful young man occupying the position of project manager with high potential in a company that specialized in public water infrastructure. At that time, the Feidong Shuian company and its finances were in a sad condition.

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Though Mackenzie No. 5 billed itself as a private members’ club, police later claimed it was really one of many illegal gaming houses in and around Toronto. In the first half of 2020, as the city retreated into Covid lockdown, police say this side of the operation ramped up. Professional casino tables were installed and staff were hired to run them. The main ballroom, styled like a Vegas hotel, offered roulette and baccarat at $20,000 per hand. A handful of tables were devoted to high-stakes games of Texas hold ’em, and there was a separate space for mah-jong. Lower-stakes players were relegated to a grim, windowless, fluorescent-lit room in the basement, kitted out with dozens of blinking slot machines as well as cryptocurrency gambling. The Regional Police in York busted an alleged high-end, illegal gambling operation. It was run from a Markham, Ontario mansion, and involved heavily armed guards. During these raids, the YRP seized 11 guns, more than $1 million in cash and $1.5 million in illegal alcohol. However, the darker find was the suspicion of sex trafficking happening within these illegal casinos and spas. The Waterloo police department has most recently reported that it has busted an illegal gambling den in Kitchener, Ontario. The officers have performed a warrant and have found around CA$36,000 in cash, poker chips, as well as gaming machines while conducting the investigations.

The most damaging of Wei’s claims was that a pistol holster confiscated from his Decourcy bedroom was a fake, according to the authorities. Wei assumed the authorities had hidden it in his home in order to link him to the firearms accusations, which may result in a prison sentence. The initial search of Wei’s bedroom on film reveals nothing behind the door outside the linen closet, which is where police said they located the holster. Instead, in a subsequent search 17 hours later, this piece of proof appeared as if by magic. Superintendent Slack turned his attention to the mansion in spring 2020 after several complaints that were brought to his notice at the height of the first lockdown. He got a lot of calls from people on the street, dog walkers, and runners. Delivery vehicles were seen slipping in and out of the mansion’s gates, as well as cartons of what seemed to be food and wine being put inside. Every light in the 53-room house shone brightly at night, peering through the heavy, drawn drapes. In the front drive, a convoy of expensive automobiles was frequently parked. The gates were manned by security guards, and uniformed personnel appeared to arrive and depart in shifts. At strange hours, a procession of guests, too many to be from a single family, came and went. People frolicked and mingled in swimming suits around the pool on hot days.

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