Ottawa-based Accu-Rate executive named in U.S. money laundering investigation

http://www.obj.ca/Local/2016-09-27/article-4651034/Ottawa-based-Accu-Rate-executive-named-in-U.S.-money-laundering-investigation/1

OBJ Staff

Published on September 27, 2016

The U.S. Treasury Department says it’s sanctioning a prominent member of Ottawa’s business community after alleging her firm, Accu-Rate Corp., facilitated illicit cash transactions.

© Valerie Keeler

Marie Boivin

The move is part of a wider investigation targeting “a significant transnational criminal organization” involved in laundering millions of dollars, the American government department said in a statement.

Late last week, the Treasury Department sanctioned 12 individuals and 24 entities. The list includes local foreign exchange firm Accu-Rate, its president, Paul Davis, and managing director Marie Boivin.

Ms. Boivin is also the chair of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce. She was previously a Businesswoman of the Year nominee in 2015 and Forty Under 40 recipient in 2009.

The sanctions mean that U.S. individuals are prohibited from having any business dealings with the company or the two executives. Additionally, their property that’s subject to U.S. jurisdiction is frozen.

Accu-Rate is accused of being a “subsidiary or affiliate company” of PacNet Services Ltd., which American investigators allege has a long history of money laundering by processing payments derived from mail fraud schemes that target victims around the world.

“PacNet has knowingly facilitated the fraudulent activities of its customers for many years,” stated John Smith, the acting director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Connection denied

Ms. Boivin has not responded to requests for comment. However, she told Business in Vancouver that Accu-Rate is not connected with PacNet, adding her c ompany has hired law firm McMillan LLP “to vigorously contest our inclusion in the Treasury Department’s actions against the PacNet Group of Vancouver.”

“We were very concerned to read about these allegations concerning PacNet and shocked to see Accu-Rate unfairly included by extension,” Ms. Boivin wrote in an e-mail to the publication. “Neither Accu-Rate nor its management is aware of or has been involved in any way with the actions for which the PacNet Group is targeted.”

Ms. Boivin told Business in Vancouver Accu-Rate would immediately appoint an auditing and accounting firm to oversee the company's operations until it can address the allegations.

In a statement issued Tuesday evening, the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce said Ms. Boivin has been "a committed and valued member" of its board since 2010.

"The board of the Ottawa Chamber is aware of the allegations involving Ms. Boivin and her company," the statement said. "The board of directors is reviewing and will consider developments in this matter before determining the best course for the Ottawa Chamber."

According to the Treasury Department, Mr. Davis is also the managing director and sole shareholder of Counting House, a company with operations in Vancouver that is linked to PacNet.

For its part, PacNet Services denied any wrongdoing in a statement posted on its website that said the company found out about the allegations against it solely through media reports.

PacNet says it plans to defend itself against the allegations but will comply with global standards in client due diligence. In the meantime, PacNet has halted processing on all payments for direct mail companies.

Fraud schemes

Some of the frauds alleged by investigators include lotteries and other forms of mail fraud, including a $180-million psychic scheme that enticed victims to send money for various goods and services that were supposed to bring them good fortunes, such as a large inheritance.

The Treasury Department said scammers would solicit victims and arrange to have them send cheques or cash directly or through a partner company to PacNet’s processing operations.

PacNet, in turn, would make the money available to the scammers via wire transfers or by making payments on behalf of the swindlers after taking a cut, authorities allege.

The Treasury Department said this process was structured to obscure the nature of the transactions and avoid detection.

None of the Treasury Department's allegations have been proven in court.

-David Sali, Craig Lord and Peter Kovessy contributed to this story

http://www.1310news.com/2016/09/28/ottawa-thieves-find-new-way-steal-car/

Ottawa thieves find new way to steal your car

• LOCAL

by JASON-WHITE

Posted Sep 28, 2016 3:26 pm EDT

 

Last Updated Sep 28, 2016 at 3:30 pm EDT

OTTAWA – It appears thieves have found a new way to try to steal your vehicle when you’re selling it online.

A caller to our rock station, 106.1 CHEZ, says his son listed his car online. Two men who looked at the car said they would buy it but needed to go to the bank first.

“My son comes back in the house and he says, ‘I think that was a scam,'” the caller told the Doc and Woody Radio Show. The son went back out to the car and realized he was holding a different car key.

“The guys actually switched the key,” he said. “They gave a Nissan key that didn’t work with the car.”

The man and his son called the police before the would-be buyer returned about 20 minutes later, opened the car and got in.

The slight-of-hand technique has been used in the United States for a couple of years, but it’s new to Ottawa fraud investigators.

“In my experience, I haven’t seen that specific scam before, no,” said Sgt. Jamie Ritchie, Organized Fraud Section, Ottawa Police.

“Sometimes we’ll have where vehicles are misrepresented — the old classic of rolling back the odometer,” he said.

Sgt. Ritchie tells 1310 NEWS, another common case for fraud investigators is where someone buying a car advertised online pays for the vehicle, but is told it needs a repair first and then never receives it.

Given this new technique, he says it might be a good idea for people listing their vehicles online to check the keys after each test drive.

Paving Scam

http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/news/index.aspx?newsId=7ed5fc69-7219-437a-8fc5-8b32d29d8633

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, September 20, 2016  11:47 am 

(Ottawa) — The Ottawa Police Organized Fraud Unit is warning the public about a new scam that has emerged in Ottawa.

The Ottawa Police has received complaints from people who have "hired" paving contractors who come to the door, with promises of an inexpensive paving job for their lane. No paperwork is exchanged, a verbal price is agreed upon, and when the work is complete, they charge a much higher amount and pressure the purchaser to pay.

The "salesmen" appear to be young white males, who speak with an Irish accent.

The Ottawa Police Organized Fraud Section wants to remind the public that any contractor work should come with a signed hard copy contract, and that if any deal appears too good to be true, it probably is.

Take the time to reflect on the deal before agreeing. There is no hurry to sign the deal at the door.

Remember that once you agree to the work, you have to pay for the work, so that is why it is important to get a contract before the work starts.

- 30 -

CONTACT:

Media Relations Section

Tel: 613-236-1222, ext. 5366

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/irish-accented-contractors-in-alleged-paving-scam-ordered-deported

Irish-accented contractors in alleged paving scam arrested, ordered deported

ANDREW SEYMOUR, OTTAWA CITIZEN
More from Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen

Published on: October 3, 2016 | Last Updated: October 3, 2016 1:39 PM EDT

Four people have been arrested and ordered removed from Canada after police warned the public about an alleged paving scam involving suspects with Irish accents.

Four foreign nationals were arrested and $70,000 in cash was seized after investigators from the Canada Border Services Agency and Ottawa police’s fraud unit teamed up to arrest the quartet on Sept. 24.

The arrests came four days after Ottawa police warned the public to beware of door-to-door paving contractors with Irish accents who would quote an inexpensive price to repave a driveway or lane, only to do the work and then demand more money.

The CBSA said Monday that the four foreign nationals who are suspected of being involved in the fraudulent contract work were working without a permit in Canada. According to the CBSA, an admissibility hearing took place in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board on Sept. 27 and all four were ordered removed from the country.

The four were ordered to remain in custody pending their removal. All four are facing one charge each, but two offences under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Three of the four are charged with working without a permit, and one is charged with working after their permit had expired.

The quartet is being held until arrangements can be made to remove them. Their names were not released.

Ottawa police warned the public about the contractors after receiving complaints from residents who had hired them. Police said the contractors wouldn’t provide any paperwork and agree upon a verbal price, but when the work was completed, they charged a much higher amount and pressured the purchaser to pay.

The police described the “salesmen” as young Caucasian men who spoke with an Irish accent.

The organized fraud section warned that any contractor work should come with a signed contract, and that if any deal appears too good to be true, it probably is.

Ottawa police are still investigating and no criminal charges have yet been laid. They have seized the $70,000 pending further investigation.

Canadian Mint employee accused of smuggling $180K of gold in his rectum

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/egan-170k-in-mint-gold-allegedly-smuggled-in-body-cavity-judge-hears

KELLY EGAN, OTTAWA CITIZEN
More from Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen

Published on: September 20, 2016 | Last Updated: September 20, 2016 6:37 PM EDT

A file photo of gold bars. SEBASTIAN DERUNGS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

An employee of the Royal Canadian Mint allegedly smuggled about $180,000 in gold from the fortress-like facility, possibly evading multiple levels of detection with a time-honoured prison trick.

Hiding the precious metal up his bum.

The case against Leston Lawrence, 35, of Barrhaven concluded in an Ottawa courtroom Tuesday. Justice Peter Doody reserved decision until Nov. 9 on a number of smuggling-for-cash charges, including theft, laundering the proceeds of crime, possession of stolen property and breach of trust.

The Uck! factor aside, the case was also an illuminating look at security measures inside the Mint, the building on Sussex Drive that produces hundreds of millions of gold coins annually for the federal Crown corporation.

“Appalling,” was the conclusion of defence lawyer Gary Barnes, who described the Crown’s case as an underwhelming collection of circumstantial evidence.

“This is the Royal Canadian Mint, your Honour, and one would think they should have the highest security measures imaginable,” Barnes said in his closing submission.

“And here the gold is left sitting around in open buckets.”

Indeed, it was not even the Mint that discovered the alleged theft but an alert bank teller.

Court was told that, on multiple occasions, Lawrence took small circular chunks of gold — a cookie-sized nugget called a “puck” — to Ottawa Gold Buyers in the Westgate Shopping Centre on Carling Avenue.

Typically, the pucks weighed about 210 grams, or 7.4 ounces, for which he was given cheques in the $6,800 range, depending on fluctuating gold prices, court heard. He then deposited the cheques at the Royal Bank in the same mall.

One day a teller became suspicious at the size and number of Ottawa Gold Buyers cheques being deposited and Lawrence’s request to wire money out of the country. She then noticed on his account profile that he worked at the Mint. The first red flag was up.

Bank security was alerted, then the RCMP, which began to investigate. Eventually, a search warrant was obtained and four Mint-style pucks were found in Lawrence’s safety deposit box, court heard. 

Records revealed 18 pucks had been sold between Nov. 27, 2014 and March 12, 2015. Together with dozens of gold coins that were redeemed, the total value of the suspected theft was conservatively estimated at $179,015.

But the defence countered with a couple of important points. The Crown was not able to prove conclusively that the gold in Lawrence’s possession actually came from inside the Mint. It had no markings nor, apparently, had any gold been reported missing internally.

The Crown was able to show the pucks precisely fit the Mint’s custom “dipping spoon” made in-house — not available commercially — that is used to scoop molten gold during the production process.

Lawrence, who has since been terminated, was an operator in the refinery section. Among his duties was to scoop gold from buckets so it could be tested for purity, as the Mint prides itself on gold coins above the 99 per cent level.

The great mystery that went unanswered at trial, however, was this: how did the gold get out of the Mint?

Court was told Lawrence set off the metal detector at an exit from the “secure area” with more frequency than any other employee — save those with metal medical implants. When that happened, the procedure was to do a manual search with a hand-held wand, a search that he always passed.

(It was not uncommon for employees to set off the detector, court heard.)

Investigators also found a container of vaseline in his locker and the trial was presented with the prospect that a puck could be concealed in an anal cavity and not be detected by the wand. In preparation for these proceedings, in fact, a security employee actually tested the idea, Barnes said.

Lawrence did not take the stand — as is his legal right — and the Crown was not able to definitively establish how the gold pucks made their way out of the facility.

“We do have compelling evidence,” countered Crown attorney David Friesen, of someone “secreting (gold) on his person and taking it out of the Mint.”

Barnes implied there were many ways Lawrence could have legitimately obtained the gold — he could have bought the coins, for instance — and said he made no efforts to be devious with the gold buyers or the bank. Further, Barnes said, the Mint isn’t even sure a theft took place.

“In fact, I would submit the Mint doesn’t even know if anything is missing.”

In an emailed statement Tuesday evening, a Mint spokeswoman said several security measures had been upgraded, including high definition security cameras in all areas, improved ability to track, balance and reconcile precious metal, and the use of “trend analysis technology.”