November 29 - In August 2012, a 19-year-old student from Guangdong arrived from the Dominican Republic to Montreal with $23,800 in euros and U.S. dollars stuffed into his backpack. Four months later, Zhang Guanqun purchased an 8,500-square-foot mansion in Coquitlam, B.C., for $2.1 million. It was only one of Zhang’s many multimillion-dollar transactions while attending Coquitlam College. From about 2012 to 2015, Zhang would funnel at least $33.75 million in electronic funds and cash through Canadian and Hong Kong bank accounts.

November 27 - There are other, more pressing issues for British Columbians to focus on right now. So they can be forgiven for not noticing an announcement from the Cullen Commission into money laundering in the province that the deadline for B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen to submit his final report had been extended to May 20, 2022. In a little-publicized release, the Commission explained that it needed more time because hearings were extended into this past September, to allow for more evidence including two additional witnesses and more documents to be led. This delayed final arguments until mid-October.

November 22 - About 12% of the professionals supervised by anti-money laundering authorities are ‘at risk’, according to the latest annual report of supervisory activity published by HM Treasury. Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing: Supervision Report 2019-20 concludes that efforts should continue to address 'significant deficiencies' in supervision by the 22 legal and accountancy sector supervisors. The report covers the activities of the Solicitors Regulation Authority as well as bodies such as the Financial Conduct Authority and Gambling Commission. The SRA is by far the largest of the nine legal sector supervisory bodies - the Bar Standards Board has an AML population of 582.

November 22 - It was Nov. 26, 2020, and the municipal computer network in Saint John, N.B. had been dark for almost two weeks — taking down the city's website, costing the city thousands of hours in lost work and affecting its emergency dispatch system. It was the work of cybercriminals who unleashed a ransomware attack that forced the city to disconnect itself from the rest of the online world. Saint John hired a Toronto-based company to navigate negotiations with them.

November 16 - Billions of dollars in Canadian real estate transactions can be attributed to money laundering, which has driven the price of homes in the Greater Toronto Area up, according to those calling for more public information on who owns what properties. “When people think about money laundering, they typically don’t think about Canada,” said James Cohen from Transparency International Canada. “They think about the Swiss Alps or the Cayman Islands.” Cohen believes there’s an increasing need for a land ownership registry, which would provide a publicly accessible database that shows the owners of private companies investing in real estate.

November 12 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Integrated Money Laundering Investigative Team (IMLIT) charged Nishanthan Gunapalan (38) of Markham, Ontario with 4 counts of knowingly providing false or misleading information, contrary to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA). As part of an investigation, the RCMP received a disclosure from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) outlining non-compliance by a company identified as 2460753 Ontario Inc, operating as Saiesan Money Transfer. The company, located at 117-6500 Steeles Avenue East, Toronto Ontario is registered with FINTRAC as a Money Services Business (MSB) owned and operated by Nishanthan Gunapalan. Gunapalan is alleged to have knowingly provided false or misleading information to FINTRAC contrary to the PCMLTFA.

November 09 - The Saskatchewan government has introduced the Seizure of Criminal Property Amendment Act, 2021, which aims to offer the province new tools to fight money laundering and to go after the proceeds of crime. The contemplated changes to the Seizure of Criminal Property Act, 2009 seek to improve the provincial government’s ability to pursue assets that have been involved in criminal activities such as money laundering.