Calgary money launderer admits to funnelling $800k to leader of organized crime syndicate

CBC

5 days ago

A Calgary man whose wife was killed in an attack that left him with a gunshot wound to the face has finally admitted to helping the leader of an organized crime syndicate launder more than $800,000.
Talal Fouani, 48, was charged in June 2022, in connection with a massive, cross-border drug trafficking operation dubbed Project Cobra, involving Mexican cartels. Police seized more than 800 kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine worth about $55-million in four separate drug busts.
When Fouani pleaded guilty to money laundering in March 2023, he entered the plea but did not agree to any facts of the crime. A conviction was never entered, marking just one instance of what Justice Greg Stirling has called an "unusual" feature of the case.
On Tuesday, Fouani agreed to the facts surrounding his crime and an agreed statement of facts (ASF) was filed with the court. The matter can finally proceed to sentencing later this year.
A total of 14 people were charged in the Cobra investigation, with police identifying five as their "main targets": the alleged leader Ricco King, as well as Elias Ade, Kary-Lynn Grant, Jarret Mackenzie and Abdul Akbar.
Murder
Two months after the organized crime charges were laid, Fouani and his wife had just gotten into their Bentley outside their southwest home when Michael Arnold walked up to the driver's side window in a construction vest and shot them both.
Nakita Baron died, Fouani was injured.
Earlier this year, Arnold was convicted of murder in that shooting. Although prosecutors believe Fouani was the target because of his organized crime connections, no solid links have ever been made.
At trial, Arnold refused to answer the prosecutor's question of "who hired you?"
Co-accused charges stayed
Fouani was not a main target of the Project Cobra investigation but was the first to act on his charges.
Seven months after Baron was killed, Fouani pleaded guilty to money laundering. But the case has dragged on for more than two years.
Before a sentencing hearing could take place, Fouani's original lawyer filed a dozen applications, most of which went nowhere but had the effect of delaying the case.
Fouani eventually fired that lawyer.
Eighteen months after Fouani pleaded guilty, the Crown stayed all charges against the five main targets who faced the most serious charges, including drug trafficking and importation, money laundering and organized crime offences.
"The Crown stated on the record that stays were due to delays in the proceedings in Federal Court which were going to cause delays for the criminal trials," reads the agreed statement of facts (ASF) filed as part of Tuesday's hearing.
Wiretaps
Earlier this year, Fouani expressed feelings of torment and injustice at his co-accused's dropped charges.
"Everyone else has gotten away with everything," Fouani said in May.
The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) initiated the investigation, which involved surveillance and covert interceptions, in 2019.
Intercepted communications between the main targets moved drugs from the U.S. to Canada, setting up logistics involving handlers, truck drivers and trucks using King's contacts and suppliers in California, according to the ASF.
Fouani came onto investigators' radar after he was observed meeting with the main targets.
$3.5 million home
The money laundering investigation involved surveillance, covertly entering Fouani's office and obtaining banking, financial, tax records as well as FINTRAC Disclosures and forensic analysis of Fouani and his businesses.
In the agreed statement of facts, Fouani admitted to laundering money for King through the purchase of a $3.5-million property in Niagara in 2020.
Fouani has admitted that between July 2020 and February 2021, he funnelled about $1.6 million through his accounts to King, his business and his realtor.
According to Fouani, a portion of the cash funnelled to King was a loan, made possible by the sale of Fouani's bitcoin wallet.
"Fouani admits that approximately $800,000 of the cash funnelled to the benefit of King was not from the sale of bitcoin, but was cash received from Ade, on behalf of King, to be funnelled through the Fouani accounts," reads the ASF.
"Fouani admits these transactions to be money laundering on behalf of King, and he was reckless in his knowledge that the cash was likely proceeds of crime."
'We can assist'
Fouani also created fraudulent paperwork for King's mortgage brokerage claiming that the cash came from a legitimate source, according to the ASF.
Included in the agreed facts was a transcription of a portion of intercepted communications, between, among others, Fouani, Ade and Mackenzie.
"These gentlemen here have come to us for a little bit of help, they've gotten into some issues …we can't be in the middle of what's about to go down but we can assist," said Fouani.
"I've tried to paper it up as much as we can, with his corporation of course, so we do have a case if we need to hire a lawyer down in Toronto."
The ASF also includes a photo of a box of $200,000 in cash, sent from Fouani's cellphone.
It came three weeks after Ade was photographed handing Fouani a box in a parking lot.
Police also recovered fraudulent payroll slips for August to October 2020 for Ade as an employee of Fouani Investments, with a salary of $15,000 per month.
In October 2021, police also recorded a conversation that took place in Fouani's office between Fouani, Ade, Mackenzie, and King, during which the four discussed the paperwork for a building project they'd invested in together.