There’s something about the way we talk about crime that I’ve always found frustrating.
Whether it’s car theft rings or fentanyl trafficking or targeted killings, we end up having intense political debates about peripheral issues — should we be locking more people up or making it harder to get bail or changing the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
But we rarely, if ever, talk about the central issue — money.
Just like legitimate businesses, criminal enterprises are trying to make a profit. But in order to make that happen, they have had to set up sophisticated operations to launder their money and put it to use.
In the past, that was difficult. Not anymore. Today, there exists a shadow financial system that has made it easier than ever for criminals to launder their money.
It’s cryptocurrency.
And ironically, it’s often the same politicians who run on tough-on-crime agendas — people like Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim or Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — who are simultaneously embracing crypto, the preferred currency of the modern criminal.
I’m sure none of you are surprised by the fact that criminal love using crypto — but what is surprising is how easy it is to turn that crypto into cash. We’re talking about eye-popping sums; hundreds of thousands of dollars at once, without the Canadian government knowing about it.
It’s a system that feels almost purpose built to facilitate crime on an enormous scale.
So today, we’re talking to Emma McIntosh, an investigative reporter from The Toronto Star, about that paper’s investigations into the brazen world of crypto-money laundering.
The Star, alongside its global investigative partners, went undercover to do some of these transactions themselves. And they did the work that Canada’s investigative agencies often refuse to do — dug through documents, court records and blockchain transactions to actually trace where this money comes from — and where it goes.
