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Bob Mackin

The annual review of B.C. Lottery Corporation’s anti-money laundering activities found several illegal casino transactions.

Of 53 large cash transactions sampled by Deloitte, three broke the law.

A bag of cash from a surveillance video at Starlight Casino, from the German Report in 2018. (BC Gov)

“In these incidents, patrons were able to continue to gamble at a casino, despite their information being incomplete or incorrectly entered,” said a BCLC briefing note obtained under the freedom of information law. ”Deloitte found three instances in which a patron was able to complete a [large cash transaction] without completing a reasonable measures form in full.”

The redacted report by Deloitte was about BCLC anti-money laundering activities is part of an annual review required under the federal proceeds of crime, money laundering and terrorist financing act.

Deloitte interviewed BCLC and casino staff and conducted walkthroughs from July 20, 2019 to Sept. 20, 2019 at five casinos and PlayNow.com, the BCLC online gambling site.

Deloitte also found eight BCLC employees had not completed required anti-money laundering training, though none of the employees were in the BCLC legal, compliance and security team.

BCLC’s anti-money laundering risk register methodology was incomplete and 10 of 26 anti-money laundering-related alerts were not acted upon in a timely manner, Deloitte found.

An Ernst and Young analysis of cheques issued from 2014 to 2016 at Grand Villa Casino found no systemic pattern of money-laundering. EY reviewed 658 cheques of $10,000 or more from table games. It released a similar review in spring 2019 about River Rock Casino Resort.

EY found three cheques issued were the result of staff error. In two cases, the casino issued verified win cheques for the incorrect amount due to errors in recording patron buy-in amounts.

(BCLC)

“In one instance, Grand Villa issued a return of funds cheque for $20,000 from the incorrect cash account,” said a BCLC briefing note. “However, Grand Villa followed all return of funds procedures pertaining to patron identification and transaction reporting.”

Meanwhile, BCLC quietly switched its online gambling contract from Paddy Power to Scientific Games Digital in May.

Ireland-based Paddy Power was contracted in 2012 and extended in 2019 to 2022.

Paddy Power merged with Betfair to form Flutter Entertainment, which acquired The Stars Group, parent of Poker Stars. Stars is not regulated in B.C.

A BCLC briefing note said the change should be seamless because of the vast majority of sporting events were cancelled since March.

“Despite COVID-19 related impacts to sports betting on PlayNow.com, the online gambling site is

experiencing unprecedented growth overall, driven particularly at this time by strong growth in eCasino products.”

In early February, theBreaker.news reported how BCLC increased the limit that gamblers can keep in their PlayNow.com account from $9,999 to $250,000 — an increase of 2,400%. They can also transfer up to $100,000 per week, a substantial 900% increase from the previous $9,999 limit. Online gambling workers were deemed essential service workers during the pandemic by the NDP government.

In April, BCLC also began to expand its GameSense Advisor program to support players by phone and online via chat on PlayNow.com.

Despite casinos closed due to the pandemic, BCLC is spending $1.6 million on a brand ad campaign on broadcast, digital and social media that began June 1 and runs through Aug. 30.

The “With Every Play, We All Benefit” animated ads promote how gambling profits contribute to healthcare, education and community programs. Ad agency is One Twenty Three West (123w) with Hamazaki Wong for ethnic creative. Mediacom is the ad buyer.

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Bob Mackin The annual review of B.C. Lottery

Bob Mackin, theBreaker.news and Ina Mitchell, contributor

Joe Clemente says he never leaves his Salt Spring Island home without his camera.

“You never know what next surprise you’ll catch on video,” Clemente told CTV News Vancouver reporter David Molko in an interview.

Military-style training on Salt Spring Island in 2018 (Joe Clemente)

Artist Clemente is known locally as “Banana Joe,” for growing tropical fruit and plants on the island. He was driving on northern Salt Spring in March 2018 when he came across about 50 people marching in military camouflage fatigues and boots. Clemente’s 35-second video shows they were primarily women, apparently Chinese.

“Not a lot of things shock me, but that shocked me. We don’t have any military bases here,” Clemente said, still wondering if he happened upon training for a cult.

“If it was hippies with dreadlocks I wouldn’t even think twice about it, we have a lot of earthy people out here, I’d say oh just a bunch of hippies out on a march. This was completely different.”

Another area resident, Kathy Weisner, was gardening when she spotted what she thought were cadets training one afternoon the week before Clemente’s experience. Their commander barked instructions in a language other than English.

Clemente said he had heard rumours of a large group booking at Mineral Springs Resort, a secluded, seaside getaway. A joint investigation by theBreaker.news and CTV News Vancouver reveals the owners’ connections to companies and real estate in Langley and Surrey, including a crime scene in Grandview Heights.

Bo Fan, a 41-year-old who came to Canada from China in February 2019, was the victim of murder on June 17. RCMP initially pinpointed a property on 27th Avenue, the headquarters of Create Abundance International Institute Inc., which owns Mineral Springs, the venue for the boot camps.

“That is very strange that it is connected to this place here on our island,” Clemente said. 

Joe Clemente in 2020.

A manager at the resort said he did not have direct contact for the owners, but said he would pass along a request for comment.

A source connected to Peace Arch Hospital told theBreaker.news that Fan had been badly beaten and her injuries included a broken femur, possibly the result of being struck by a vehicle. She had been taken to the emergency ward around 5:30 a.m. by her brother and sister-in-law. Sgt. Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team told Molko that both have co-operated with detectives.

Fan was employed by Create Abundance and its affiliate Golden Touch. The multi-level marketing organizations are based on a spiritual, psychological and financial philosophy book. 

Since releasing photographs of Fan on June 24, Jang said clues have come in, but not enough. Detectives are still trying to piece together her final days and hours. They hope more people — perhaps her clients — will come forward. 

“We’re not as close as we want to be in uncovering what happened to Ms. Fan,” Jang said.

That is not to say they aren’t trying. theBreaker.news has confirmed that, on June 19 and 20, RCMP obtained eight search warrants, all of which are sealed. Residents of a cul-de-sac in a Langley neighbourhood north of Campbell Valley Regional Park say that police were on-site for several days and even set-up a tent in the yard of a house that is connected to Fan’s brother.

Jang wouldn’t comment on the motive for Fan’s murder. As for her injuries, he would only call them “extensive, serious.”

Mineral Springs Resort guests in military gear.

“There’s family members, potentially witnesses, that perhaps are no longer in Canada — they’ve left Canada,” Jang said. “Those are challenges we’re facing, but nothing we can’t overcome.”

A pamphlet for Golden Touch said the philosophy was founded by a woman named Xinyue (Mya), who is also known as Zhang Xinyue, author of Wisdom for Abundance.

An English translation of the pamphlet said Zhang “attained epiphany of mission, through careful research and development, has created a set of a comprehensive, in-depth and efficient system of theories and practice concerning spiritual growth. With all religions integrated, this system uses a variety of professional methods to quickly clean up people, change their selfhoods to enhance the quality of their soul.”

Golden Touch claims to be more than a series of courses, seminars and workshops. It says it is a spiritual growth system and boasts of a network of clubs in major cities across North America, Europe and Asia. The pamphlet said workshop attendees gain inspiration, confidence, influence, charm and wealth: “Your income will magically increase. All your fears and limitations about money will be destroyed.”

The group charged $200 to $300 for admission to seminars at the Richmond Sheraton Airport Hotel. A notice for the two-day course also mentions the Mineral Springs Resort. Other conferences were hosted in an amphitheatre aboard a Pacific Cruises ship.

Create Abundance International Institute Inc. was incorporated in July 2014 at the Grandview Heights address, registered to Zhong Guo “businessperson.” Fellow director Zhang Dazhun listed an address at a $3.5 million-assessed property west of Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley.

Surrey murder victim Bo Fan (IHIT)

Zhang and Guo’s names appear as the two directors of GT Global Corp., a Bahamas-registered company listed in the Panama Papers offshore accounts database.

A source, who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said the organization has been operating in the Grandview Heights area since 2016. It often drew tour buses and luxury cars for daytime meetings involving “well-heeled” people. One of the houses was a haven of activity, where a couple dozen people were often seen working.

The corporate registry shows five provincially registered companies linked to Golden Touch with the same address at the $3.1 million 27th Avenue property. Two of the companies have business permits from Surrey city hall.

After complaints from neighbours, the buses stopped coming, but people still drove-in, parking at the house on 27th Avenue or a related property on 166A Street, where the Create Abundance sign was seen next to the front door. Gatherings typically took place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., sometimes up to four days a week. There were often stretches of no activity for months. Fan is believed to have driven a White Dodge Charger with a pink “princess on board” decal and managed the house.

A phone number associated with one of the Golden Touch companies, a computer consulting business, appears in several advertisements on Chinese language blogs, for recruiting event planners for party activities in Las Vegas and Seattle and an executive assistant in Surrey.

A man who answered the phone number listed on those blogs on July 15 said he was Peng Fan and that Bo Fan was his older sister. He said his English was poor and asked a reporter to send him an email instead. He has yet to respond to the email, which was translated to Chinese.

Create Abundance logo above the slogan “realize your dreams in an instant!”

In 2017, Zhang trademarked the Chinese characters and the Chinese name for Create Abundance, Chuang Zhao Feng Sheng. The categories of services covered in the Industry Canada application included vocational guidance; travel industry education courses; arranging and conducting financial conferences; art appreciation workshops and seminars; book and review publishing; fitness training; radio and TV production; comedy club services; modelling for artists; psychological consultation, assessment and testing services.

Zhang did not list a Canadian address in the application, but instead one in a hotel complex across from the sprawling campus of Changchun University in China’s northeastern province, Jilin.

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Bob Mackin, theBreaker.news and Ina Mitchell, contributor Joe

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is en route to a third conflict of interest strike. But will he be called out?

Last week, Canadians learned that Trudeau’s mother and brother were paid handsomely to speak at WE Day concerts and that the WE Charity appeared to have the inside track for the $912 million student jobs contract. The charity stood to gain more than $43 million, double (and then some) the original profit.

Democracy Watch’s Duff Conacher

The sole-sourced contract was cancelled when it got too politically hot to handle. The PM apologized for not recusing himself from the cabinet meeting where this deal was decided, but why should Canadians accept his remorse after he set a higher standard for his caucus when he came to power in 2015.

On this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, listen to highlights of the scandal and Bob Mackin’s interview with Duff Conacher, the co-founder of Democracy Watch.

Plus, did Rick Hansen, the wheelchair athlete and namesake of the Rick Hansen Foundation, get paid for his multiple appearances on the WE Day stage?

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and commentary.

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn or Apple Podcasts.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Why the Trudeau family's WE scandal is not a wee scandal
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is en route

Bob Mackin

Half a world away, on March 11, the Geneva-based World Health Organization was declaring the Wuhan-originated novel coronavirus a pandemic. A worldwide emergency.

Horgan’s swearing-in July 18, 2017 (BC Gov)

In British Columbia, Premier John Horgan was meeting with his cabinet in a 90-minute session about the COVID-19 health and economic crises.

After he gave the customary First Nations land acknowledgment, Horgan ceded the floor to Health Minister Adrian Dix, who proceeded with verbal updates on the approach to communications and plans to minimize the spread of the virus, economic impacts and impact on workers. The deputy ministers of health and emergency management were on hand.

But no minutes were kept from the verbal briefing.

Same for the March 19 COVID Committee, the day after B.C.’s state of emergency had been declared. Education Minister Rob Fleming, Deputy Health Minister Stephen Brown, Cabinet Secretary Don Wright and Horgan spoke.

Manager of cabinet operations Zita Baumann’s note confirming no minutes were taken is also attached to the agendas released to theBreaker.news under the freedom of information law.

Historians in 2035, the year when today’s cabinet records automatically become public domain, will be puzzled.

Two of the most-important meetings for any B.C. cabinet since World War II were not documented. To whom do we assign credit or blame for big decisions? 

Horgan was sworn-in as B.C.’s 36th premier three years ago, on July 18, 2017, after an inconclusive election led to the Green-supported NDP defeating the BC Liberals on the June 29, 2017 confidence vote. Judith Guichon, the lieutenant-governor, asked Horgan to form a new government instead of accepting Christy Clark’s pitch for another election. 

Fast forward to 2020. In February, the NDP projected a third straight balanced budget. In July, a whole different story. Brace yourselves for a $12.5 billion deficit. 

Horgan ran on a platform in 2017 that included a promise to enact a duty to document law. He sold voters on the accountability plan to require the government to record decision-making and punish unauthorized destruction of records, with fines up to $50,000.

It was a popular idea after Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham found mass triple-deleting in Clark’s own office and the offices of several cabinet ministers. After Denham’s scathing report in October 2015, Horgan justifiably attacked the BC Liberals for their secrecy and pledged the NDP would be both different and better.

“A culture of deception, a culture of deceit, a culture of delete, delete, delete,” said Horgan in Question Period on Oct. 22, 2015.

“I thought, most people on this side of the house and the independents on this side of the house, felt that we came here to do public service, not to cover up for misdeeds in the government of British Columbia.” 

Premier John Horgan with chief of staff Geoff Meggs on a February 2019 trip to Washington State (BC Gov)

A lot of voters took Horgan for his word. But he has not fulfilled the promised duty to document law. No bill introduced in the Legislature. And now proof that no minutes were kept at two pivotal cabinet meetings.

His party gave B.C. the freedom of information law in 1993 but has done nothing to reform B.C.’s aging information and privacy code, despite grand plans to do so while occupying the opposition benches.

The first hint Horgan would break his promise came two weeks before swearing-in, when he made Geoff Meggs his chief of staff. Meggs was the former card-carrying communist and ex-communications director for NDP Premier Glen Clark. More recently, Meggs was an architect of Vancouver city hall’s descent into diabolical secrecy as a three-term Vision Vancouver city councillor. 

On March 18, current information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy (who has an NDP pedigree) bowed to the government’s request to effectively suspend the FOI law until the end of April. McEvoy renewed the extraordinary state of emergency measure until mid-May. Bureaucrats and their political masters, all seduced by secrecy, have asked for more time to delay disclosures, on a case-by-case basis. To their delight, McEvoy’s staff have said yes.

Now theBreaker.news has proof that Horgan and his cabinet did not take minutes at two crucial meetings. Maybe the most-important meetings of Horgan’s career. Certainly in the costliest year in B.C. history.

A cover up.

We can only pray there were no misdeeds.

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OOP-2020-03324 by Bob Mackin on Scribd

Bob Mackin Half a world away, on March

Bob Mackin

Almost two-thirds of British Columbia’s pandemic supplies were never replenished before the novel coronavirus hit the West Coast. 

A supply chain memo from the Provincial Health Services Authority, obtained by theBreaker.news under the freedom of information law and shared with CTV News Vancouver, shows that medical equipment stockpiles totalled more than $5.7 million in July 2013.

3M N95 mask

But, by January 2020, they had dwindled to $2.07 million.

Supplies range from syringes, needles and bandages to surgical masks, N95 respirators, gloves, eye goggles, gowns and hand sanitizer. The briefing note quantified the inventory by dollar value, rather than units.

Over the course of six-and-a-half years, almost $2.76 million of supplies owned by B.C.’s five regional health authorities had expired, become obsolete or been donated to anti-Ebola efforts in Africa, while $896,000 of goods had been absorbed into working inventory.

“Most of the expired/donated inventory was not replaced resulting in the current lower level of pandemic supplies,” said the Feb. 13 document, submitted by Melinda Mui, the interim vice-president of PHSA’s supply chain department, to a leadership council meeting.

“Health authorities’ pandemic supply levels have dwindled or been eliminated on many items across the province. Should a widespread pandemic occur in B.C., the current level of pandemic supplies will likely not meet B.C.’s requirements which may lead to public safety risk.”

The agency that spends $2 billion a year on medical supplies for B.C. hospitals and ambulances recommended a centralized provincial pandemic supply chain and plan to return stock to 2013 levels.

Less than a month after Mui’s document, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.

“There wasn’t really pandemic preparedness going on there,” B.C. Nurses Union president Christine Sorenson said in an interview with CTV News Vancouver reporter Jon Woodward.

Sorenson said personal protective equipment scarcity is one of the biggest concerns for nurses. She said 100 have filed WorkSafeBC claims due to infection in the workplace.

She agreed it was reasonable, for legal reasons, to get rid of supplies that expired or were no longer manufacturer-approved. But that does not excuse complacent officials, who should have maintained stock while avoiding financial loss. 

“What should have been taking place is replacement,” Sorenson said. “There should have been a normal sort of turnover of personal protective equipment, supplies.”

The only health authority with more supplies in 2020 than 2013 was Vancouver Island Health, which had $416,000 versus $375,000 in 2013.

Interior Health’s stockpile value had shrunk from $435,000 to $0 over seven years. Northern Health had just $15,768 remaining. Back in 2013, it had $377,000.

Melinda Mui of PHSA

Vancouver Coastal Health’s stockpile dropped $1 million to $426,000. Fraser Health had $611,855 on hand, down from $1.56 million in July 2013.

Another document acknowledged the risk of each health authority managing its own stock.

“This individual approach leads to an inconsistent approach to managing these critical supplies as they are not currently under centralized direction nor consistent,” according to a Feb. 4 briefing note.

Titled “Health Authority Owned Pandemic Inventory for British Columbia,” it stated centralized supply management would allow the province to reduce costs associated with waste and obsolescence.

Feb. 4 was the week after B.C. announced its first confirmed case of 2019-nCoV. A person who had travelled from Wuhan, China tested positive on Jan. 27 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. 

Even with a way forward, PPE usage rates were reaching beyond historical norms. A February 27 inventory report showed that Northern Health had no supplies of four surgical mask types and only one day’s supply of another. Island Health was out of six surgical mask types and down to a month’s supply of two N95 mask types. The federal government came to the rescue for B.C. and other provinces in March when it chartered CargoJet to bring emergency plane loads of PPE back to Canada from Shanghai.

The stockpiles were originally built under the BC Liberal government. By January 2020, the NDP had been in power for two-and-a-half years. At a July 14 news conference, Health Minister Adrian Dix said B.C. now has adequate PPE on hand as hospitals work to clear the massive backlog of delayed surgeries.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said during the same session that officials conducted a “rapid inventory” in January.

“We never had a shortage,” Henry said. “We did have to keep it managed centrally so there wasn’t hoarding in certain areas. We had a dramatic increase of respirators and masks related primarily to people’s concerns about being exposed. We don’t want to be in that position again. This has made it every clear how challenging it is.”

B.C. Nurses Union president Christine Sorenson

Henry offered conflicting messages four months ago.

On March 23, she said she was unaware of PPE shortages in B.C.

Just two days later, on March 25, a 180-degree pivot: Henry revealed that hospitals were “going through way more personal protective equipment than we expected, so we are on a tenuous level.”

Dr. Roland Orfaly, CEO of the B.C. Anesthesiologists Society, told theBreaker.news that the PPE supply challenge would have been disastrous for his members and patients had the virus spread in B.C. like it did in Quebec.

“It was anesthesiologists who were putting themselves right there, inches from the face of a COVID patient when they were most ill and most infectious,” Orfaly said. “We could be unknowingly intubating a COVID patient for surgery. So having the appropriate type and amount of PPE available is absolutely critical, not just for our safety as anesthesiologists, but for the entire team of healthcare workers around us.”

Global shortage was preventable 

The first of the two PHSA briefing notes came three days before the head of the World Health Organization made an alarming announcement at a news conference.

On Feb. 7, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of a global PPE crisis. Demand had skyrocketed 100 times higher than normal and prices were up to 20 times more expensive.

“This situation has been exacerbated by widespread, inappropriate use of PPE outside patient care. As a result, there are now depleted stockpiles and backlogs of four to six months,” Adhanom said. “Global stocks of masks and respirators are now insufficient to meet the needs of WHO and our partners.”

Medication, supplies and equipment are provincial and territorial responsibilities. The federal government maintains a National Emergency Strategic Stockpile, but that is for provinces to request in emergencies when their own resources are not enough. It is from that inventory that China received a 16-tonne donation in early February, sparking a firestorm of controversy as Canada’s healthcare system began to run out.

Dr. Bonnie Henry (left) and Health Minister Adrian Dix (Mackin)

B.C. built its stockpile after a watershed 2006 report from a committee of top officials, including Dr. Theresa Tam, called Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan for the Health Sector.

Dr. Danuta Skowronski represented the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, where Henry worked. Henry and Vancouver Coastal Health’s Dr. Patty Daly were involved in subcommittees.

The document warned that a pandemic would likely result in supply shortages and that Canadian governments should not rely heavily on outside assistance. Interrupted transportation lines, lack of inventory and embargoes would complicate procurement.

“Provinces/territories and local health authorities may wish to review the possibility of rotating stockpiles of critical supplies for health care facilities within their own jurisdictions,” the report said.

Governments got another reminder last fall. The 2019 annual report of the WHO’s Global Preparedness Monitoring Board Annual said pandemics from natural pathogens or disease-causing microorganisms from a laboratory posed a major threat. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore hosted the Event 201 pandemic simulation last November. The table top exercise concluded scarcity of medical supplies was a major weakness.

Two months after the PHSA stockpile report, theBreaker.news revealed how desperate the B.C. government had become.

Mui went to the People’s Republic of China consulate to accept a donation of 56 boxes of PPE from Guangdong province, the week after Premier John Horgan spoke to China’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu. 

Staff in government offices across B.C. received an April 7 memo from Ministry of Health assistant deputy minister Philip Twyford. While bureaucrats were working from home, Twyford wrote that staff went hunting for unused N95 masks in earthquake kits at ministry and agency locations across B.C.

This was a cross-government effort which provided thousands of masks to front-line health workers,” Twyford  wrote in an email obtained by theBreaker.news. “Facilities staff went to each workspace and removed the earthquake kits to check for masks. As a result, some workspaces may have been slightly disturbed when the masks were retrieved. Staff placed the earthquake kits on the floor, and did not reattach them to desks and other surfaces, so we can replenish the kits when a supply is available for this purpose.”

Said anesthesiologist Orfaly: “It’s concerning that there may have been a shortage of PPE going into the pandemic earlier this year. And certainly concerning that if there is a second wave coming up. We need to have enough supplies available.”

theBreaker.news originally sought the documents on April 14, but that was during a two-month period in which Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy granted B.C. public bodies a temporary holiday from disclosing records under the FOI law. The PHSA records were finally delivered July 9.

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Bob Mackin Almost two-thirds of British Columbia's pandemic

Bob Mackin (Updated July 16)

David Sidoo starred on the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds’ first Vanier Cup champion football team in 1982.

After becoming a successful stock promoter in his post-Canadian Football League career, Sidoo raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the university and the football team, helping recruit players for the fourth national championship squad in 2015. They put his name on the field and the scoreboard at Thunderbird Stadium. The BC Liberal government, to which he donated, put him on UBC’s board of governors for three years.

David Sidoo (left) and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with the Vanier Cup in 2016 (PMO)

You would think David Sidoo bleeds the blue and gold of his alma mater, UBC.

Not so fast.

On July 15, just five days after his 61st birthday, Sidoo appeared by Zoom in front of an American judge, who sentenced him to 90 days in jail for his role in the college admissions scandal.

The crime? Conspiracy to commit mail fraud. In 2011 and 2012, Sidoo paid $200,000 to consultant Rick Singer’s “side door” scheme that saw tennis pro Mark Riddell use false identification to pose as Sidoo’s sons and ace their college entry exams. On two occasions, the Floridian flew to B.C. to write exams.

Dylan Sidoo was accepted to Chapman University, later transferring to University of Southern California. Jordan entered University of California Berkeley. They both graduated but now their diplomas are suspect.

David Sidoo had paid $200,000 so that his sons did not have to follow in his footsteps, so that they could avoid UBC.

A university that is mere minutes by care from their posh $31 million Point Grey mansion.

“I am appalled as to how you find yourself about to be sentenced for a felony,” said Judge Nathaniel Gorton on Zoom, as Sidoo stared blankly at his computer screen, with his mouth wide open. “You are quite evidently an intelligent, hardworking very successful businessman who overcame many hardships in your life, in fact a pillar of your community, and yet you have committed a crime that displays an unbelievable lack of integrity, morality and common sense.

“You have let your selfish desire, your pride, and your enormous wealth overcome all of what you apparently want to stand for by your works of charity.”

After his March 2019 arrest in San Jose, Calif., Sidoo pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. In late January, he negotiated the plea deal, admitting guilt on one charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud to avoid a trial and a potential jail sentence of 20 years.

In addition to the jail sentence, he will pay a $250,000 fine.

Jordan (left) and Dylan Sidoo (Disappears.com Inc.)

Gorton said Sidoo’s crime warrants more than three months, but noted he was remorseful and had no prior criminal record.

Sidoo will surrender to U.S. authorities by Sept. 23 at a minimum security prison to be determined, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. His first two weeks will be in solitary confinement quarantine, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Said Gorton: “You need to serve at least some time in jail however to demonstrate that the rule of law applies to everyone, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. you need to pay a significant and conspicuous price for your criminal conduct in order to deter you and others from the blatant misuse of your great fortune.”

Minutes earlier, Sidoo tearfully delivered a prepared statement. He paused, took a deep breath and bowed his head at one point, as he wore a checked, Burberry-like blazer in a wood-pannelled room, with a trophy case behind him.

“I’m very sorry,” Sidoo started. “The last several  months have been the hardest of my entire life. Today, I accept the court’s decision without reservation. No words can express how sorry I am for my decisions and actions that have led to this day, I make no excuses, you’re honour, I broke the law, I pled guilty to a crime and I now must pay for my actions.”

Sidoo called it a “terrible mistake that has deeply affected our family.” He apologized to his former teammates and those that he said look up to him.

“I wish to apologize for my actions, I will serve my sentence and am committed to returning to my community and doing everything possible to making a positive impact,” he said. “I hope that in time people will not judge me based on the worst moment in my life.”

It was more than a moment. Sidoo was involved in the scheme over a number of months in 2011 and 2012 and again several years later.

In 2018, on a wiretapped phone call, Singer tried to sell Sidoo on hiring Riddell to write another exam, so that his son could attend graduate school.

Thunderbird Stadium’s field was named for David Sidoo (Mackin)

“Yes they had conversations, but when it came to action, Mr. Sidoo did not repeat the errors of 2011 and 2012 in 2018 and in 2019,” said Sidoo’s lawyer Martin Weinberg. “Instead he turned Singer down and his son didn’t get into the school that he and mr singer were talking about.”

Weinberg reminded the court that Sidoo is eligible for four days credit, for being in the Oakland County Jail for a weekend in March 2019 after his arrest. He also said the charges caused Sidoo emotional and physical deteroriation and submitted letters from doctors at Vancouver’s Copeman Clinic to back that up. The letters in the public file were censored.

“Mr. Sidoo survived a brutal childhood with an alcoholic, violent father,” Weinberg said. “Because he was a South Indian minority, he transcended that through athletics and worked hard to build his reputation and that of his family, he’s never forgotten his roots.”

Gorton said he was impressed by Sidoo’s remorse and desire to make up for “what you called mistakes.”

But he corrected his word use.

“I would call it a crime, not a mistake,” Gorton said.

After his relatively short period of time behind bars, Gorton said Sidoo will be challenged to spend the rest of his life working hard at convincing people that this was a “one-off.”

Sidoo’s name no longer graces signage at Thunderbird Stadium and his Order of B.C. was revoked in June. He remains listed on the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame website as a member, inducted in 2017. The B.C. Place Stadium provincial sports shrine is reviewing the matter, according to a prepared statement from CEO Nicholas Cartmell.

“As an organization committed to fair process, we will proceed carefully and respectfully under the rules and regulations governing the status of any honoured member who has been convicted of a criminal offence or has brought harm, dishonour or disrepute to sport in British Columbia or to the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame,” Cartmell said. “The final decision on Mr. Sidoo’s status will be determined by a full vote of the Board of Trustees after the matter has been properly deliberated in the coming weeks.”

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Bob Mackin (Updated July 16) David Sidoo starred

Bob Mackin 

The mystery continues about the relationship between Surrey’s mayor and the councillor he appointed last year to the Metro Vancouver board.

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum on July 12 outside Coun. Allison Patton’s naturopathic clinic.

At the end of June, a reader of theBreaker.news spotted Mayor Doug McCallum at the Big Ridge brewpub with Coun. Allison Patton.

On July 11, McCallum was spotted outside Patton’s naturopathic clinic, Ardour Wellness.

Just four days earlier, on July 7, theBreaker.news contacted McCallum’s spokesman, Oliver Lum, after several sources said that McCallum had been hospitalized. Lum did not deny that McCallum had suffered symptoms of a stroke. He issued this vague three-sentence statement attributed to McCallum.

“I had a health concern over the weekend that required medical attention. While the issue has been addressed, on the advice of my doctor, I will be taking a few days off to rest and recuperate. I am glad to say that I will be returning to my duties in time for the regular council meeting [on July 13]. I appreciate the concern and well wishes expressed by all.”

McCallum has more than two years left in his term. He relies on Patton’s vote to continue the Safe Surrey Coalition’s slim majority on council and to proceed with next year’s replacement of the RCMP with a municipal force. Patton is paid $397 per Metro Vancouver board meeting. If meetings exceed four hours, she is paid $794.

McCallum and Patton have refused to respond to theBreaker.news, which began asking questions about their relationship in January. 

Doug McCallum’s car parked outside the South Surrey clinic of Allison Patton’s ex-partner, Caleb Ng.

As theBreaker.news exclusively reported May 6, RCMP officers were called to Patton’s Mountainview Wellness Centre in South Surrey on April 30 due to an alleged breach of peace.

theBreaker.news reported that both Patton’s business partnership and marriage broke down. Husband Caleb Ng opened the competing West Coast Center for Regenerative Medicine across the parking lot in the Semiahmoo Shopping Centre complex. In an odd twist, McCallum’s Buick was photographed last week parked outside Ng’s clinic, instead of in front of Patton’s.

McCallum was spotted inside Mountainview on May 1, when he opened the door and popped his head inside a room where Patton was on a Zoom conference call with members of the South Surrey White Rock Chamber of Commerce. 

Last December, Patton moved from White Rock into a Surrey condo. Neighbours have told theBreaker.news that McCallum frequently visits Patton’s residence. 

On May 22, the Vancouver Sun reported that McCallum told Mounties on April 30 that “we just signed a lease here.”

McCallum and Patton at Big Ridge brewpub.

McCallum said those words while one of Mountainview’s other ex-naturopaths, Galina Bogatch, recorded the scene outside Mountainview with her smartphone. CTV News Vancouver reported that a locksmith had changed the locks at the clinic on April 30 and that McCallum accepted the new keys on behalf of Patton. 

Mountainview is no more, it is now called Ardour Wellness.

A month-and-a-half before the police were called, Patton quietly incorporated Ardour on March 13, using the services of Paperclip Law Corp. in North Vancouver as the registered office. She is the only officer of the company. 

March 13 was, coincidentally, two days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic emergency.

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Bob Mackin  The mystery continues about the relationship

For the week of July 12, 2020.

Research Co. pollster Mario Canseco joins host Bob Mackin to ponder the pandemic, presidential race and a prime minister in a pickle.

Research Co. pollster Mario Canseco (Mackin)

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and commentary.

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn or Apple Podcasts.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

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For the week of July 12, 2020.

Bob Mackin

The lead prosecutor in the U.S. college admissions scandal said Vancouver oil and gas investor David Sidoo stole two college admissions slots for his sons in a $200,000 fraud scheme.

Dylan (left), David and Jordan Sidoo

“By cheating on his son’s admissions test and fabricating his application essay, Sidoo deprived a deserving student of the opportunity to attend that elite school. In addition, Sidoo’s conduct was not just limited to paying money,” wrote U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling in a scathing sentencing memorandum filed on July 10. “Rather, Sidoo took an active role in facilitating the fraudulent scheme by sending [ringleader Rick] Singer documents and biographical information that allowed Singer to create multiple fake identification cards that [proctor Mark] Riddell used to pose as Sidoo’s sons for the exams.”

July 10 is, coincidentally, Sidoo’s birthday. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 15 for one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. His plea bargain was reached at the end of January, and made public in March. Pending a judge’s approval, Sidoo will serve 90 days in a minimum security prison and pay a $250,000 fine. A 12-month probation term is expected to be waived, because the court cannot enforce it outside the U.S.

Lelling’s sentencing memorandum also states that Riddell flew to Vancouver to pose as Dylan Sidoo for a December 2011 SAT exam. He returned in summer 2012 to take Dylan Sidoo’s high school exam. In fall 2013, David Sidoo and Singer crafted a college application essay that falsely claimed Sidoo’s oldest son had been held-up at gunpoint by a Los Angeles street gang and rescued by a rival gangster named “Nugget.” In 2015 and 2016, Riddell, Singer and David Sidoo explored cheating on other graduate school admissions tests, but abandoned their plan.

David Sidoo (left), Blake Nill (second from right) and Amrik Virk (third from right) celebrating UBC’s Vanier Cup win in 2015. (BC Gov)

Dylan Sidoo eventually entered Chapman University, but transferred to the University of Southern California.

Riddell also wrote the SAT on behalf of Jordan Sidoo in December 2012, who gained admission to and enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley.

“Sidoo engaged in serious criminal conduct involving fraud and deception that stretched over multiple years. His crimes warrant significant punishment,” Lelling wrote.

In the defence submission, Sidoo’s lawyer calls the guilty Vancouver investor and philanthropist a first-time offender without a criminal past who will continue to suffer after he serves his sentence.

“Mr. Sidoo is a 61-year-old man who made a tremendous mistake, out of misplaced love for his sons, that is inconsistent with his entire personal life story,” wrote Martin Weinberg in his July 10 submission. “Mr. Sidoo has and will pay a significant price for his conduct in this case. He will serve a period of incarceration, he will be excluded from the United States, and his reputation in the community that he has supported for many years is now significantly tarnished. Furthermore, Mr. Sidoo has suffered both physically and mentally.”

Until Sidoo negotiated the plea bargain, he had steadfastly maintained his innocence.

Sidoo posted a photo on his website in April, preparing to donate masks and sanitizer to Downtown Eastside homeless.

He was arrested in San Jose in March 2019, released after three days in jail on a $1 million bond and charged for paying more than $200,000 to have an impostor write exams for his sons, both St. George’s boys school alumni.

If the case went to trial, Sidoo could have been jailed up to 20 years.

Former Canadian Football League player Sidoo lives in a $31.7 million mansion on Belmont in Point Grey, a Vancouver neighbourhood often called “Billionaires’ Row.” Massachusetts Judge Nathaniel Gorton is allowing Sidoo to appear July 15 via Zoom videoconferencing, due to coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions.

Neither of the sons has been charged. Neither of the two California universities where they graduated has disclosed whether the diplomas tainted by their father’s fraud will be cancelled. 

“Mr. Sidoo is not accused of funnelling money through Key Worldwide Foundation to be provided to the schools, nor is he accused of having [ringleader Rick] Singer create false sports accolades,” Weinberg wrote.

“Mr. Sidoo has pled guilty to providing funds to Key Worldwide Foundation in exchange for Mark Riddell writing the SAT exam for his sons. In fact [Dylan Sidoo] transferred to [USC] without Mr. Sidoo seeking any assistance of Mr. Singer or anyone in the Athletics Department. Accordingly, the sentence of 90 days in custody is consistent with the above stated sentences when the relative conduct is contrasted.”

David Sidoo accepting the Order of B.C. from Premier Christy Clark and Lt. Gov. Judith Guichon in 2016 (BC Gov)

Weinberg also wrote that Sidoo is no danger to the public, is remorseful and has remained compliant while on bail. Details of Sidoo’s alleged physical and emotional deterioration were censored from the public document.

Weinberg pointed to some of Sidoo’s recent losses. In March, University of B.C. said it would remove Sidoo’s name from the scoreboard and field at Thunderbird Stadium, where Sidoo starred with the 1982 Vanier Cup-winning football team.

In June, Sidoo lost his 2016-awarded Order of British Columbia.

The Ministry of Education told theBreaker.news that it has not been involved in this case and there has been no internal investigation into the exam cheating in B.C.

Sidoo’s submission to the court includes 18 character reference letters from many prominent individuals.

In an April 27 letter, former B.C. Supreme Court judge and former BC Liberal. Attorney General Wally Oppal said his 35-year acquaintance Sidoo is a “person of impeccable character and has an excellent reputation in this province.”

Former federal Liberal cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal called him “an individual who fulfils his commitments.”

Thunderbird Stadium’s field was named for David Sidoo (Mackin)

Another letter came from Amrik Virk, the former Mountie who was the Advanced Education Minister when BC Liberal donor Sidoo was appointed to the UBC board of governors in 2014. Virk, a one-term BC Liberal MLA from Surrey, wrote that Sidoo has “repeated expressed remorse privately and publicly,” though he did not mention where and when Sidoo did so publicly.

“While I am in no way competent to offer a medical diagnosis, I am privy to and witnessed the deterioration in his physical and mental health,” Virk wrote. “While the media may portray the resilient, successful businessman facing judgement I have observed the effects on his spouse and children. I do not intend to paint him as a victim but merely to highlight the obvious impacts observed.”

Virk’s letter does not mention that he joined the Sidoo family’s Meridius Resources junior mining company as a director in 2019.

Other letters came from CFL and NFL hall of fame quarterback Warren Moon, Michael O’Connor, a 2019 Toronto Argonauts rookie drafted from UBC, Bobby Singh, the only player with Super Bowl, Grey Cup and XFL championship rings, former UBC head coach Frank Smith, and current UBC head coach Blake Nill.

Sidoo’s 13th Man Foundation booster club recruited O’Connor to join the UBC Thunderbirds in 2015 from Penn State and helped fund the program toward its Vanier Cup title that year.

TSN 1040 host Bob Marjanovich and TSN football reporter Farhan Lalji also chimed in.

Lalji, who coaches the New Westminster Secondary varsity football team, wrote on the team’s letterhead that Sidoo has donated $100,000 to the school and football program over 17 years. Lalji wrote that “inaccurate narratives have been created well outside the bounds of this case and many people have rushed to judgment.”

David Sidoo’s defence filings include a letter from one NDP cabinet minister and a certificate from another.

Marjanovich, who first met Sidoo during their high school days in 1978, wrote: “His improper actions have hurt the ones he loves the most and nothing can ever change that.”

The Sidoo file also includes a 2012 letter from now-NDP Energy and Mines minister Bruce Ralston congratulating Sidoo for a philanthropy award and a 2016 certificate of achievement from now-Attorney General David Eby, the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, for receiving the Order of B.C.

Sidoo was the first person from British Columbia to be charged in the U.S. college admissions scandal, but the second to be sentenced.

A Surrey woman who is a Chinese citizen was sentenced to time already served in a Spanish jail. Xiaoning Sui, 48, admitted guilt in February and was fined $250,000 fine after five months behind bars.

Sui paid Singer a $400,000 bribe to have her tennis-playing son recruited to the University of California Los Angeles soccer team so that he could study there. He had no prior competitive soccer experience, but was falsely billed as a top player on two private teams in Canada.

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Bob Mackin The lead prosecutor in the U.S.

The first Vancouver pro sport back in business since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March is thoroughbred horse racing.

Hastings Racecourse reopened on July 6 for its 131st anniversary meet. theBreaker.news was there on July 7.

Race fans must watch online for now, because of the ban on mass-gatherings in B.C.

Click below and watch theBreaker.news at the races. 

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The first Vancouver pro sport back in