Feb 13/2025 Dirty realtors, mortgage brokers and money laundering.
Canada has fast become a destination of choice for money launderers worldwide, taking advantage of our under-regulated, loophole-riddled property market to wash and hide billions in illicit wealth.
British Columbia has made some minor changes to real estate laws in recent years, but it just isn’t enough to stop the realtors & brokers who are willing to risk it all to get rich quick. Some that dared to risk it all are now dead, or serving time. It’s sad, it’s wrong and what’s even worse, it’s a crime. There are many great realtors in Victoria who care about their clients, their only interest to make sure their client is properly represented in the sale of their home or purchase of their new property. Good realtors often become long term friends with their clients. Realtors who are committing fraud in the hope of making quick money are doing nothing to improve the image of the industry itself.
Sadly, this white-collar crime continues on every day in Victoria and all parts of BC for that matter. Many of these mortgage brokers, realtors continue on using the illegal methods below to do transactions and they are getting away with it. We all know who these dirty brokers are but there is little any of us can do about it. Statistics show that there have been very few charges brought against these realtors, and this means that BC Securities Commission is not doing their job in investigating this white-collar crime.
Until the government implements tighter restrictions in our industry this fraud will continue. The realtors/brokers who are involved in these behaviors are all connected to criminal organizations, and they will stop at nothing to protect their money laundering, drug operations. Lindsay Buziak was brutally murdered by someone close to her, and if there are ever arrests in this case, I am confident that whatever Lindsay saw that she shouldn’t have seen will lead back to a major criminal organization close to home.
The Hells Angels are no longer as high-profile/powerful as they once were,
but they are still feared and for good reason. It is a well-known fact that the HA have infiltrated real estate offices, police departments, government offices, land titles, air traffic control, and have inside people leaking out information to them. In 2008, the HA were high profile in Victoria and Nanaimo and the surrounding areas. Hells Angels maintain a foothold in Vancouver’s docks, with a few full-patch Hells Angels being members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Organized crime maintains this foothold on the waterfront for strategic purposes — so drugs and other contraband can be smuggled in some of the more than 1.5 million containers that pass through the four container terminals at Port Metro Vancouver every year.
I’ve heard people say that the HA make good neighbors and are very protective of their neighborhood. They do toy drives too. They are not keen on cats, but they are okay with vicious dogs. Looks like they can be your best friend or your worse enemy. Heck, that’s exactly what Lindsay said about someone close to her at one time. If you want someone dead, you just have to buzz the HA line. I don’t have their number handy right now but if anyone’s got it let me know. I’d like to give them a call to find out about their next toy drive.
REAL ESTATE MONEY LAUNDERING:
Involves intricate methods to conceal illicit funds within legitimate transactions.
Utililizes front companies, shell companies, straw buyers, and false appraisals.
Can distort property prices and impact the economy and communities.
Often involved large sums of cash, complex transactions, and little oversight.
Criminals purchase real estate using cash and conceal ownership through shell companies.
MORTGAGE FRAUD RED FLAGS
Someone offers you money to use your name and credit information to obtain a mortgage
You are encouraged to include false information on a loan application
You are asked to leave signature lines or other important areas on a loan application blank.
The loan amount on the mortgage is significantly higher than the value of the property
The property has been refinanced several times, and, in each instance, the amount of the mortgage has increased
A seller or investment adviser discourages you from seeing or inspecting the property you are buying
REALTORS WHO RISKED IT ALL HOPING FOR THE BIG SCORE.
ERIC DRINKWATER RE/MAX CENTRAL
2025 Calgary police have charged a Calgary real estate broker in defrauding 16 victims in an alleged investment fraud that saw a total loss of $1.9 million. A victim came forward in July 2024 with allegations that they had invested $80,000 with a realtor but had never received repayment, the Calgary Police Service said in a press release issued Thursday. According to the victim, they had a financial agreement for repayment with interest.
A subsequent investigation turned up 16 more victims, the release said. “Between March 2020 and February 2024, while employed with Re/Max Central, the realtor is believed to have solicited numerous loans disguised as investment opportunities by offering short-term, high-interest transactions, leveraging his professional capacity as a real estate agent,” the police statement reads.
“It is believed he told victims he knew of clients who needed funding to close deals on real estate transactions to avoid impacting their credit or borrowing capacity. The realtor explained he would repay the loans in a short timeframe, with profits made from the sale of his client’s homes.” Victims were allegedly told their loans were guaranteed to be paid back, police said.
“He also guaranteed the transactions, ensuring the victims believed the loans were backed by garnishment of his commission from Re/Max Central should he fail to repay the loans,” according to the news release. Police said they have charged Eric Drinkwater with one count of fraud over $5,000. He is expected in court on June 11.
KRISTA BOSSELEY, former White Rock Re/Max realtor & her partner in crime Gilles Lapointe was arrested by Homeland Security agents after disembarking from Lapointe’s small private plane at John Wayne airport. . A plane loaded with 2 mil worth of ecstasy pills, powder & cash. Both were charged with conspiracy to distribute. Gilles Lapointe was sentenced to six years in Federal prison while the charges against Bosseley were dropped. No doubt skank Krista ratted out Lapointe and cut a deal with the Feds.
Nothing more than a wanna be gangster girl, wannabe model, wanna be realtor, and former owner of a Broadway Bodyshop in Vancouver. This 30-year-old money hungry hoe was willing to hook up with a 61-year-old man to transport drugs in a get rich quick scheme. She rolled in the dirt with the dogs and that makes her a dog. Likely working in some massage parlor now and lying low.
ELLIOTT CASTANEDA, UN gang member, 29 years old, was a realtor with Homelife Glenayre Realty in Abbotsford until a few months before his death. He was gunned down at a taco stand in Guadalajara Mexico on July 12/2008 with fellow UN member Ahmet Kaawach. It is unknown whether Elliott was able to finish his tacos before taking the bullet.
MICHAEL GORDON, 33 years old, was a realtor and owner broker of Best Bet Realty in Chilliwack with alleged gang ties and was known to the police. In 2008 he was shot dead in his car outside a convenience store. It was a targeting killing. Gordon was buying and selling property for the UN Gangs jailed leader Clayton Roueche, at the same time spending time with one of Roueche’s enemies. Play with the bull and you get the horn. Or the bullet!!
RONNY KRAYEM, 29 and VINCENZO LANCI 28, were arrested in 2009 on extortion and unlawful confinement charges. Ronny Krayem was a realtor with Homelife Realty in Langley. He only had his real estate license for a few days when arrested. It turns out these two were involved in transporting drugs back East for organized crime, and the unlawful confinement was ordered by the criminal organization these two worked for. The police would not disclose which gang or criminal organization that was.
OMID MASHINCHI 35, a BC realtor was leasing luxury properties to B.C. gangsters. He is now behind bars in the U.S. charged with international money laundering. U.S. authorities allege that he wired hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money over several months last year to banks in Massachusetts through one of his company’s accounts. Mashinchi knew the funds involved “represented the proceeds of crime” and “that such transportation, transmission and transfer was designed in whole or in part to conceal and disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership and the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity.”
A Postmedia investigation found that Mashinchi has started at least three companies in B.C. since 2006, all related to the real estate industry. The underlying crime alleged is “the manufacture, importation, sale and distribution of a controlled substance.” The charges against Mashinchi were sworn in January but remained under seal until his arrest in April as he landed at SeaTac International Airport on a flight from Vancouver. He was going to visiting his parents in Sacramento. “What an idiot, he should have kept his damn money in Canada”.
GREG MARTEL, 49 A Victoria mortgage broker, and good friend/associate of mortgage broker Jason Zailo at the time of Lindsay Buziak’s murder. A man with no ethical or legal boundaries, living large from the start, and defrauding hundreds of friends, business associates and even his own family members. Born in 1976, grew up in Toronto, then moved to Victoria BC where he registered as a sub mortgage broker in 2006. By 2009, Martel had started his own Dominion Lending franchise called Harbour View Mortgage, a company known for its great mortgage giveaways. As those business endeavors grew, so did Martel’s reputation.
He was known as a player in Victoria, charismatic, good looking, using whatever it took to place himself in a position of trust within the community. A guy with a Sex in the City attitude, who had an eye for every attractive woman in Victoria. He is truly one of the sleaziest human beings to ever land in Victoria. His fraudulent behavior carried on for years. Sadly, Greg’s investors will never see their money again, so we can only hope that one day he takes a bullet to the back of the head.
In 2017 Greg was reported to the police and to the BC Securities Commission, yet it would be a few more years before Greg Martel found himself up against a wall. In 2023 it was determined that Greg was running a Ponzi scheme and had defrauded his investors of over 231 million dollars, destroying the lives of so many good people. Not just in Victoria but other parts of Canada and in the US.
NAZFAR MIRHADI, 28 years old, a realtor with ABF Broadway Realty Vancouver was arrested October 21/2011. She faced charges of unlawful confinement and kidnapping. She and six others arrested had gang links to the Red Scorpions and the Independent Soldiers. Nazfar’s brother No Mirhardi was gunned down in 1997 in a movie theatre. He had links to the Persian Pride gang.
GARY YUZIK, ROBERT STANLEY and his wife CINDY STANLEY were arrested after a high seas raid on an unregistered sailboat which netted a record-breaking cocaine seizure. The ocean makes a superhighway which can be a smuggler’s ticket to big money. Unfortunately, they got caught. Gary Yuzik was the former owner of RE/MAX Keremeos Realty, Cindy Stanley worked for Yuzik and her husband Robert was a former top municipal employee. New they are languishing in a South Pacific prison. Whether they will ever return home is questionable.
KEVIN SMETANIUK, was a licensed realtor with Royal LePage Coronation Realty in Surrey. His license was suspended for five years in 2007. BC Court records show Kevin was charged in 2007/2008 with possession of property obtained by crime, forging credit cards, fraud and breaking and entering.
SARAH TREBBLE, a realtor with Sussex Prudential Realty was acquitted in 2009 of a charge of occupying a vehicle in which there was a firearm. Sarah is a know associate of high-ranking UN gang member Barzan Tilli-Cholli. Sarah’s boyfriend Soroush Ansari worked at the same real estate office in West Vancouver. Sarah also lived with her previous boyfriend Larry Amero. Larry was a full patch member of the White Rock Chapter of the Hells Angels. Sarah was a very busy lady and obviously liked money & the risky lifestyle.
SGT. SHINDER KIRK, spokesman for the Integrated Gang Task Force said this, “It’s not surprising, organized crime would turn to real estate. There would be a benefit to having someone in that profession as part of your organization.” Gangs used a number of professions to launder money including real estate. One method criminals use to launder money is this: They buy a home with cash from an eager realtor or mortgage broker friendly to them or owned by them as a front.
They then take out an equity loan on the house in order to maximize the debt on the home, then put someone in it to start a grow-op or meth lab. In the event that there is a bust the proceeds of crime which the government seizes the home is owned by a bank, hence the criminal suffers very little loss since the equity loan is long gone and so is the criminal.
Criminologist DARRYL PLECAS said, “there seems to be crooks in every profession and realtors can provide knowledge beneficial to a criminal organization. It’s not common, but it’s a matter of fact that we have seen realtors using their positions as a means to provide information to people in the business of grow-ops”.
EMAIL ADDRESS: murderondesousa@gmail.com