Briefly: Richard Charles Reed killed underground banker Jian Jun Zhu at a Richmond restaurant in September 2020, according to a B.C. Supreme Court judge.
Reed will face a mandatory 25 years in jail without parole.
Reed was found not guilty of attempting to murder Paul King Jin, a well-known Richmond loan shark.
Bob Mackin
A B.C. Supreme Court judge found Richard Charles Reed guilty Sept. 4 of the first degree murder of a notorious underground banker in Richmond.
Silver International underground banker Jian Jun Zhu.
Justice Jeanne Watchuk heard the case in April and May and agreed with the Crown that Reed was guilty beyond reasonable doubt of killing Jian Jun Zhu nearly four years ago at the Manzo Restaurant. The crime carries an automatic sentence of 25 years in prison with no parole.
“The only reasonable conclusion to draw from the facts is that on Sept. 18, 2020, at 7:35 p.m., Mr. Reed walked up to the window of the Manzo Restaurant and shot the person sitting on the other side, Mr. Zhu, in the back of the head,” said Watchuk in her written verdict. “Mr. Reed intended to kill Mr. Zhu when he shot him. The decision to kill Mr. Zhu was not taken on the spur of the moment, but Mr. Reed planned and deliberated it by both surveying the scene and preparing his escape in the 20 minutes before the shooting, and by coordinating directly and indirectly with Gordon Ma, Yuexi (Alex) Lei, and Jin Cai to prepare for and carry out the murder.”
Watchuk also found Reed guilty as charged of reckless discharge of a firearm and possession of a prohibited firearm, but not guilty of attempting to murder well-known Richmond loan shark Paul King Pao Jin or possession of a firearm knowing the serial number had been defaced.
The Crown relied on video evidence, evidence of Reed’s coordination and communication with Ma, Lei and Cai before the crime and Reed’s possession of the murder weapon. The trial heard that police found an M1911A, 9-millimetre, .45 calibre pistol under Reed’s bed at a McBain Avenue house in Vancouver on Nov. 28, 2020.
The Crown alleged Ma provided a black and white striped hoody for Reed to wear and Lei burned the hoody at his residence. A witness described Lei’s residence as a “clubhouse,” where he had plans to operate an illegal casino.
Video evidence showed a male wearing a striped hoody in the area of the restaurant between 7:11 p.m. and 7:36 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2020. The shooting occurred at 7:35 p.m.
Paul King Jin (BCLC/Cullen Commission)
Ma frequently communicated by phone with Cai, who attended the dinner party with Jin and Zhu, the man behind the underground Richmond bank Silver International Ltd. that was accused of laundering $200 million annually. A federal case against Zhu collapsed in November 2018 after prosecutors errantly exposed the name of an informant.
According to the manager’s testimony, the restaurant was busy, with 30 to 40 customers inside.
“The group ate, drank, made toasts, and everyone was happy,” Watchuk wrote.
Cai paid the bill for the dinner party, 10 to 15 minutes before the shooting, and left early, supposedly to go home and walk his dog.
“Mr. Cai was the only person to leave the dinner early. He left when Mr. Reed first walked through the Manzo Restaurant parking lot,” Watchuk wrote.
Cai was murdered in June 2021 at his home in Vancouver’s Fraserview neighbourhood.
The Manzo manager testified he heard “pop pop pop noises followed by people yelling, screaming, and fleeing the restaurant.”
He also saw Zhu laying on the bench near the window, with blood on the back of his head. So he called 9-1-1.
Zhu’s cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the back of his skull. Jin survived a gunshot wound to his left cheek, lacerations to the bridge of his nose, and a single gunshot wound to his left hip.
In March 2023, a special prosecutor opted against charging Jin for proceeds of crime and money laundering, because he concluded there was no substantial likelihood or reasonable prospect of conviction.
Victoria lawyer Chris Considine said investigators identified 10 events, in which Jin moved $2.4 million between February 2017 and May 2017. They traced the chain of communications and transfer of funds to demonstrate that cash Jin obtained was the result of offshore transfer of funds to accounts in China.
Lei was arrested in March 2022 on two counts of accessory after the fact and one count of accessory after the fact to murder, but his charges were upgraded in September 2022 to include first degree murder and attempted murder.
In May 2023, Lei pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder, unlawful possession of a firearm with readily accessible ammunition and unlawful possession of a prohibited weapon. However, he applied in August to withdraw his guilty pleas.
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