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Mainstream media has finally gotten to the truth: Vancouver’s real estate market is rife with money laundering. Back in February we compiled Vancouver’s Housing Market Money Laundering Fraud. In March, How Vancouver Is Being Sold To The Chinese: The Illegal Dark Side Behind The Real Estate Bubble…In September Globe & Mail Investigation confirms rampant fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion in Canada’s housing market did a great job highlighting some of the issues, and now mainstream media has, finally, put all the pieces together…

More than half of B.C.’s most expensive homes owned by secret shell companies spurring money laundering fears

By Sam Cooper
December 9, 2016: Vancouver Sun

Almost half of Vancouver’s 100 most expensive homes are bought using shell companies or other financial tools that obscure who the identity of the true owners, a report from anti-corruption group Transparency International says.

The report, which focuses on money laundering and tax evasion vulnerabilities in Canadian real estate through a study of Vancouver luxury homes, slams Canada for failing to close home-ownership loopholes related to shell companies, trusts and nominees.

The report also concludes the prevalence of non-transparent ownership in B.C. luxury real estate makes it impossible to measure how much offshore cash is invested in B.C. homes, even though B.C. is attempting to collect data on foreign ownership.

“An influx of overseas capital is one of several causes of rising property prices, (in Vancouver and Toronto) but the extent and impact of foreign investment remains unknown since very little data is collected on property owners,” the report says. “Individuals can use shell companies, trusts and nominees to hide their beneficial interest in Canadian real estate.”

(read the full article at calgary herald)