BC Lawyer disciplined for money laundering

BIV is reporting that "Neal Burton Wang faces discipline from the Law Society of BC after being caught moving millions of dollars through his trust account, to a company in Dubai, according to a tribunal ruling. Wang deposited $2.9 million from client “WW” by September 2017, without having provided legal services. He was then told of the securities investigation by another client and associate of WW. Wang moved various smaller sums of money for WW and their spouse NW, via his trust account, until NW instructed Wang to wire much of it to a company in Dubai."

William Majcher's affidavit described how easy and common it was for Canadian lawyers to launder money for organized crime. These same lawyers become judges. It's interesting to note that Wang's client WW who was under investigation was never named. It's also interesting to note that this was a disciplinary hearing not a criminal investigation.

"Canada's legal industry is self-regulated by provincial law societies. Distance from government intervention is important to maintain an independence in the judicial system and protect solicitor-client privilege. As such, to protect that privilege, lawyers are under no obligation to report large and suspicious transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), the country’s financial intelligence and anti-money laundering analysis agency."

This is a copy of the Decision of the Review Board.

[13] The Law Society submits that although the hearing panel correctly found the Respondent breached the relevant Rules, the Panel incorrectly found that those breaches did not constitute professional misconduct. The Law Society says the Panel erred by failing to properly analyze the factors referred to in Law Society of BC v. Huculak 2022 LSBC 26.

Rules smules. Was he laundering money or not. Who is his client?

"Insp. Majcher said Mr. Rosenfeld told him it was "twenty times" easier to launder money from Canada than the United States. He was also told during the investigation that five lawyers in Vancouver regularly laundered $200,000 a month through trust accounts in return for a 7-per-cent commission. Other lawyers used offshore accounts, stock market scams and foundations to hide illicit cash, Insp. Majcher testified." Now William Majcher is facing his own kangaroo court.