HorsesAss.Org

George W. Bush has refined his message in the final days of the campaign: “Vote for Kerry and we’ll all be eaten by wolves.” Or something like that. Perhaps its meant to be metaphorical.

Of course, getting eaten by wolves may actually be preferable to a second Bush administration… an administration so stunningly incompetent that it has actually managed to make the world more dangerous by eliminating a madman like Saddam Hussein.

Take this scary headline from The NY Times: “Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq“.

The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives – used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons – are missing from one of Iraq’s most sensitive former military installations.

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man’s land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year.

Good thing there weren’t any “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, else we probably would have lost those too.

I have penned many a rant complaining about the way the media covers Tim Eyman, specifically how they continue to give undeserved credibility to his bullshit numbers.

A great example was earlier in the year, when I sent out repeated emails to the media regarding Tim’s claim that I-892 set aside $11 million a year to treat problem gambling. I showed that using Tim’s own revenue projections, the number was less than $4 million. I showed my math. I explained that Tim apparently didn’t understand his own initiative, and was calculating on the wrong number.

And then, a reporter who was certainly familiar with my missives wrote:

The measure would also earmark 1 percent of those funds for problem gambling treatment, an amount Eyman says would total about $11 million, though critics say the number is greatly exaggerated.

I’m sure he thought he was being objective… but a truly objective and responsible reporter would have fact checked Eyman’s numbers before presenting them as remotely credible, especially in light of the indisputable math I had presented.

(Just like the Seattle Times should have fact checked Eyman’s patently false claim that Dave Ross had endorsed I-892. You know… they could have actually given Dave Ross a call, and asked him.)

I dredge all this up because I actually want to compliment a reporter for covering I-892 responsibly. In today’s Bremerton Sun, Susie Oh show’s you the right way to frame Tim’s unsubstantiated claims: “Pull the lever: Slots vs. Taxes“.

Susie repeats Eyman’s revenue claims, but does not present them in way that makes them appear equally credible as the OFM projections. There’s a good reason for this: the OFM shows its math, Tim does not.

Tim Eyman is an admitted liar who has made a career of deceiving voters, contributors, the PDC, and the media. And journalists are deceiving themselves if they think simply putting his claims in quotes somehow constitutes objective reporting. Tim’s numbers are based on rhetorical expedience, not research. Knowing this, it is time the media starts holding him to higher standard.

I-892 has been a grand deception from the start… a gambling initiative, masquerading as a tax cut proposal, masquerading as an appeal to racial hatred. Nothing Tim says can be taken at face value.

I occasionally find it therapeutic to call Tim Eyman names. I’ve called him a “lying, thieving, blowhard”, a “lying sack of shit”, and of course, my claim to fame, a “horse’s ass.”

Today I would like to point out that Tim is also an arrogant prick.

Take for example today’s piece in the Seattle P-I, “The financial losers of an I-892 passage“. The article reports on a study released by the Washington State Gambling Commission that shows local governments will lose tax revenues if voters approve I-892.

Tim’s reaction?

“I flat-out reject any conclusions they’re coming to,”

Just like he flat-out rejects similar findings by the Office of Financial Management. Why? Because they don’t match Tim’s numbers.

What an asshole. Or more accurately… an arrogant prick.

Two government agencies, one with expertise in financial projections, and the other with expertise in the gambling industry, conduct separate studies that come to remarkably similar conclusions. But Tim wants voters to flat-out reject them, and instead trust numbers provided by him, a professional liar, whose academic credentials consist of selling mail-order novelty watches to college fraternities.

Okay, perhaps that’s unfair. So let’s take a long, hard look at Tim’s research:

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Tim’s idea of exhaustive research is reading his own news clippings in bed. When Tim was hired on to front I-892, I immersed myself into research on the gambling industry, how it operated, and its impact on taxation, economic development and problem gambling. Tim’s preparation consisted of borrowing a chart from his I-864 campaign, and penning a few sound bites fomenting racial hatred against the tribes.

Tim pulls numbers out of his (horse’s) ass, and then has the gall to “flat-out reject” those provided by the experts. And the worst part about it is, this media strategy works! Tim’s numbers are figments of his own imagination, yet the media has never once asked him to show his math! The result is that the public comes away with the impression that the differing projections represent two extremes of a reasonable debate, and perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between.

The truth is that Tim Eyman is a lying, thieving, arrogant prick of a blowhard, with absolutely no credibility. And the media does the public a great disservice by giving ink to his lies without requiring him to back them up.

A few days ago I asked you to join the national boycott against Sinclair Broadcasting for their plans to preempt network programming to air “Stolen Honor”, a “documentary” criticizing John Kerry’s anti-war activism.

Well, public companies must react to public outrage, or face the financial consequences, and in the end, Sinclair backed down. Sort of. Instead they showed a one-hour news special “A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media”, which the LA Times described as relatively balanced. Well, as balanced as you can expect from a neo-fascist media monopolist like Sinclair.

It’s nice to know that activism can work.

I know this may sound paranoid, but I am becoming increasingly concerned that we don’t actually live in a democracy anymore. To be honest, I’m not sure I can imagine a scenario in which George Bush wins this election… and I actually believe the results.

Take this article in The NY Times: “Big G.O.P Bid to Challenge Voters at Polls in Key States.”

As I have previously reported, Kerry’s hopes are pinned on massive voter registration drives that have resulted in Democrats gaining a five to one advantage in new registrations in battleground states like Ohio. The Republican solution? Don’t let these people vote.

Republican Party officials in Ohio took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters they suspect are not eligible to cast ballots.

Republicans say their efforts are necessary to guard against fraud. Yeah right.

Some officials said they worried that the challenges could discourage or even frighten others waiting to vote.

No shit, Sherlock. That’s the whole point!

Barring an indisputable Kerry landslide, this election is going to be a disaster. We need international observers.

My morning routine is about to change. Instead of launching my RealOne Player and streaming the Al Franken Show over the internet, I’m just going to tune into 1090-AM, the newest station in the Air America Radio Network.

The Seattle Times reports today that starting 12:01 a.m. Monday morning, the newly renamed KPTK will switch format from country-music to “progressive talk,” joining liberal Air America’s 36 other local affiliates, plus XM and Sirius radio.

Clearly, there is money to be made in liberal talk radio, else media monopolists like Infinity (Viacom) wouldn’t put it on the air. According to Infinity VP Dave McDonald: “There are those in the radio business who believe that shows with a liberal perspective won’t get an audience. Air America in recent months has shattered that myth.”

It’s shattered the myth because it is informative, entertaining, and damned funny. If you’re not already a regular listener, I urge you to tune in Monday.

Speaking of lying sacks of shit, how about David Fretz, president of Great American Gaming, a wholly-owned subsidiary of loanshark-infested Great Canadian Gaming of Richmond, B.C., who operates four of Washington’s largest non-tribal casinos. When The Seattle Times asked him to comment on Initiative 892, he blustered:

“Why don’t you talk to Tim Eyman? It’s his initiative, OK?”

Ewwww… what’s that smell?

As I’ve previously explained, hiring Tim to front this steaming pile of legislative excrement may have been a clever exercise in branding, but I-892 has always been more a Great Canadian initiative than an Eyman one.

Great Canadian is I-892’s biggest financial backer… $210,000 thus far (that we know about.) Great Canadian has the most to gain from I-892… over $20 million a year from slots, at their four existing casinos. And Great Canadian has been pushing virtually identical legislation for the past three years, as one of the dominant forces behind the Recreational Gaming Association and the Entertainment Industry Association.

Great Canadian CFO Anthony Martin brags to investors that their Washington casinos were “purpose built” with a special raised floor, in the expectation that I-892 would introduce slot machines into their “local community casinos.” Really. It’s on video.

But it’s not simply the opportunity to expand their addictive wares into Washington neighborhoods that excites Great Canadian, it’s the fact that our ass-backwards gambling taxes would make Washington slots nearly three times more profitable than those north of the border.

In British Columbia, a monopoly market with limited licenses, the taxation rate is 61 percent on table games, and 75 percent on slots. Washington, with unlimited licenses and local gambling tax rates of up to 20 percent, is a land of opportunity by comparison.

By comparison, under I-892 the state taxes slots at 35%, cutting out local gambling taxes entirely.

The Canadian tax model is more the norm than the exception. Indeed, taxpayers in neighboring Oregon get 71% of the take from video poker machines, more than twice what I-892 gives Washingtonians.

Think about it. If this was truly an “Eyman initiative”, he could have doubled the promised tax break, by cutting taxpayers a larger share.

Instead, for a $47,000 salary he sold out to I-892’s real sponsor, Great Canadian. They got a sweet deal. But it sure does stink.

I got an interesting prerecorded phone call tonight from the King County Republican Party, warning me that Washington’s morality is at risk due to liberal judges appointed by Democrats who have controlled the state for forty years. The message highlighted cases regarding same sex marriage and so-called “partial-birth abortion.”

A woman named “Jennifer” urged me to vote Republican in the upcoming election… presumably because Republicans are more moral than Democrats, and will thus appoint moral judges.

Of course, I think honesty is an integral part of morality, and problem is… we don’t appoint judges in Washington state! We elect them.

Now personally, I think we should appoint judges — I’m a pretty smart, informed guy, and God knows I’m not qualified to elect a judge.

But I am qualified to spot a lying sack of shit when I sniff one, and ewwww… what’s that smell? It’s the KCGOP!

(If you are fortunate enough to find this message on your voicemail, please save it and send me a transcript. Thanks!)

Well, I’d like to think that I kicked Tim Eyman’s ass on the “Dave Ross” Show this morning, but the truth is, I didn’t get a chance. Guest-host Allan Prell beat me to it.

I think the majority of the state’s talk radio hosts have become so accustomed to Tim’s routine refusal to answer questions directly (or honestly), that they just throw up their arms and let Tim have his rhetorical way… a kind of Tim-will-be-Tim resignation.

Allan, on the other hand, was totally unfamiliar with Tim (he even called him Tom once), and got genuinely pissed when Tim refused to answer his questions. There was one particularly amusing exchange where Timmy refused to name I-892’s biggest financial contributor, and Allan simply wouldn’t let Tim continue without first giving a direct answer. Tim even threatened to hang up.

Of course, when my turn came around, I was more than happy to directly answer the question for Tim: the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation!

And once again, the callers were overwhelmingly opposed to I-892.

I know the vote on I-892 is supposed to be close. And it probably will be. But I have a feeling that if progressives vote their minds, and conservatives vote their heart, I-892 could garner less than 40% of the vote… a crushing defeat.

All in all, not Timmy’s best performance.

I’m not sure who the host is, or whether Timmy will actually show after the ass-whooping I gave him Monday morning on the Mike Siegel Show, but I’m booked on the historically named “Dave Ross Show” this morning in the 10am hour, to discuss I-892.

I think I’ll take a break from attacking one evil corporation, to go back to attacking another. (So many evil corporations… so little time.)

I’ve already blogged a couple times about Sinclair Broadcasting, and their blatantly propagandistic plans to pre-empt primetime programming on their 62 network affiliates to air a 90-minute documentary-cum-infomercial attacking John Kerry, a week before the election. Most recently, I deconstructed Collin Levey’s pathetic defense of Sinclair (Ein gef

So here’s a hypothetical… if the media came across a couple of sworn depositions from former employees of a tribal casino, alleging… oh… let’s say… loansharking, racketeering, profit skimming, prostitution, drugs, rape, illegal cigarette sales and other crimes… don’t you think the local media would be all over this scandal?

Damn right they would!

So why won’t they touch the allegations leveled at I-892’s biggest financial backer, the Great American Gaming Corporation?

Because they’re chicken shit.

I’ll give them a couple more days to prove that our local press cares enough about the First Amendment to exercise freedom of the press despite the risk of a frivolous Canadian libel suit.

And if they refuse to act, then it is time to force their hands.

Anybody interested in joining me in a fun little stunt, send me an email. I need about a dozen volunteers who can give me a couple hours in the middle of the day.

[WARNING: CANADIAN CITIZENS ARE EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED FROM READING THIS BLOG. YOU DON’T LIKE IT? GO GET A REAL CONSTITUTION!]

Yesterday I told you the story the mainstream media is too chicken-shit to cover: the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation and allegations of loansharking, racketeering, prostitution, profit skimming, rape, drugs, and nuclear terrorism. (Just kidding about the nuclear part.) If you haven’t yet read the sordid tale, scroll on down or click here.

I plan to follow up with some more details, including Great Canadian’s cowardly and dangerously undemocratic use of Canadian libel laws to squash public debate about Initiative 892. But first I want to explain why it is so important that Washington voters learn the truth about the company that plans to dominate the state’s gambling industry.

So let’s cut to the chase and take a gander at the following clip:

(Can’t view the clip? Try here.)

That was Great Canadian CFO Anthony Martin talking about their strategy of “community based gaming” in Washington state. According to Tony, people tend to game “in close proximity to where they live,” and so they have placed their casinos in the “bedroom communities” surrounding Seattle. As Tony explains, I-892 will introduce “slot machines” into these “local community casinos.” Indeed, all of Great Canadian’s Washington casinos have been “purpose built” to include slots.

You see, I-892 isn’t an “Eyman” initiative. It’s Great Canadian’s.

Great Canadian owns six properties in Washington state, including four of the Seattle area’s largest mini-casinos. It is also the largest financial backer of I-892 — for the $210,000 they have put into the campaign (that we know of) they stand to earn over $20 million a year.

In fact, Great Canadian has really been the driving force behind I-892 all along. As one of the main backers of the Recreational Gaming Association, Great Canadian has been instrumental in pushing virtually identical legislation during the past three sessions.

Eyman tries to sell I-892 as property tax relief for homeowners, and equal treatment for non-tribal businesses. But Tony tells a different story… about an initiative that legalizes slot machines and puts them into our neighborhoods. I-892 is about gambling, and the enormous profits it will bring its Canadian sponsor.

A Canadian company has used Canadian dollars to put a self-serving initiative on the Washington ballot. And now they are using Canadian libel law to abrogate our Constitutional rights to free press and free speech. Voters have a right to know what kind of company is sponsoring the most massive expansion of gambling in state history.

And if the mainstream media won’t tell you, I will.

[Don’t trust my excerpt? View the full B-TV infomercial.]

If Tim Eyman were to be judged by the company he keeps, he could be looking at significant jail time.

As reported today by Neil Modie in the Seattle P-I, the Richmond, B.C. based Great Canadian Gaming Corporation — the biggest contributor ($210,000) to Initiative 892’s campaign to legalize slot machines — is facing allegations of loansharking, prostitution, profit skimming and other criminal activities at their casinos in B.C. and abroad. [I-892 backer fights loan-sharking allegations]

The allegations come in sworn depositions from two long-time employees Proka Avramovic, a former Surveillance and Security Manager, and Boki Sikimic, the former Supervisor of Surveillance and Security for all of Great Canadian’s casinos… including those in WA state.

The allegations leveled at Great Canadian are shocking. But perhaps more shocking is the cowardly and un-American way they have been using Canada’s ass-backwards libel law to keep this information away from WA voters. Local media have been sitting on this story for months… indeed, I first blogged on it back on June 26 (“Sign this petition or I’ll break your leg! I-892’s biggest backer accused of loansharking“). As the P-I reports, Great Canadian has already filed a number of libel suits, including one against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This is what is known in the media as a “libel chill” strategy, and it has been quite effective.

While The P-I deserves credit for being the first WA media outlet (other than me) to cover this story, libel chill has clearly influenced their coverage. It took months to get this story in print, and in my opinion, the editors chickened out by burying the story on Saturday, when it would have the least impact. And while I appreciate all the hard work Neil Modie put into this story, Hearst attorneys obviously must have limited him to following the letter of Canadian law, which only permits news organizations to publish those allegations repeated by Great Canadian as part of the libel proceedings.

Great Canadian’s attorneys are counting on WA’s media to make the rational decision to keep quiet, so as not to risk the huge expense of defending even a frivolous libel suit. Unfortunately for Great Canadian… I’m not rational.

And so I choose to exercise my First Amendment rights, by excerpting some of the juicier sections of the depositions… which at times read like a bad dime-store crime novel.

Be aware that I have edited the excerpts for the sake of clarity, removing objections, redundancies and extraneous comments. But as a service to readers and my friends in the media, I am making the full text of the depositions available for download.

Avramovic deposition

Sikimic deposition

The depositions are from a lawsuit filed by Texas based Allegiance Capital over a failed investment in a Hong Kong floating casino, the China Sea Discovery. The lawsuit accuses Great Canadian of fraud, conspiracy and racketeering.

But first, let’s start with the girls.

Proka Avramovic took over surveillance and security for the China Sea Discovery while the regular manager went on vacation. The many “irregularities” onboard became apparent at his first briefing:

A. The very first thing that he mentioned to me was that couple of days before my arrival they had a problem with girls that were working on the ship, and he call them prostitutes.
Q. Okay. And what was the problem?
A. Somehow those girls were working on the ship and they had the room. He showed me the room. And one of the girls weren’t part of the crew, she was trying to work on her own, so that’s why he kick her out.
Q. “Wasn’t part of the crew”, what do you mean by that?
A. Well, my understanding was somebody arranged those girls to be on the ship and work. I also been told by him that one of the staff employed by Great Canadian has been having a service and paying for the service.
Q. What service?
A. Well, I guess those girls are prostitutes. I mean, we can just imagine what kind of service.
Q. Oh, well, okay. You mean service from the prostitutes.
A. Yeah.

Certainly a public company like Great Canadian would never arrange to have prostitutes onboard their ship, would they? Or knowingly tolerate an employee frequenting the prostitutes? Surely these are the accusations of a disgruntled former employee.

As a matter of fact, Great Canadian has filed a libel suit against Mr. Avramovic, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and Allegiance Capital for repeating these and other allegations. They haven’t, however, filed a libel suit against Boki Sikimic, Mr. Avramovic’s former supervisor, so we can assume Great Canadian has no dispute with what he says in his testimony on the incident:

Q. Did you receive any other reports concerning prostitutes?
A. No. Other ones are okay — they didn’t make any problem.
Q. You received no actual reports other than that one concerning prostitution?
A. That was the only one that we — they have a problem.
Q. Okay. Have a problem — Oh, you mean the only one that was acting up?
A. Yeah.
Q. All right. Were these other women permitted to remain on the ship?
A. Yes.
Q. Were they permitted to continue their operations as prostitutes?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you report these communications made to you concerning prostitutes to anyone?
A. I report to Adrian and Brian, but they knew that they was on the ship before, so they probably knew that there was —
Q. Did they tell you they knew it?
A. No, no, but they told me that it’s normal. It’s like massage.

It’s like massage, right… like massaging your penis.

Anyway, “Adrian and Brian” are Great Canadian President & COO Adrian Thomas, and Executive Vice-President Brian Egli. All the Surveillance and Security Managers reported directly to Mr. Sikimic, and Mr. Sikimic reported directly to Mr. Thomas and Mr. Egli. So it is clear that top executives were at least aware of reports of illegal or improper activities, if not complicit.

Indeed, later in the deposition Great Canadian’s attorney seems unconcerned with refuting the prostitution allegation, instead focusing on whether it negatively impacted profitability.

The Allegiance attorney is also focused on profitability, and takes a particular interest in a Hong Kong company called Mexteam, who they claim Great Canadian contracted to supply and operate the ship. Under questioning, Mr. Avramovic reveals a potential conflict of interest:

A. I saw couple of business cards of Howard Blank and Tom Bell. They had the business cards with their name on it and the company name was —
Q. Mexteam?
A. Yeah, Mexteam.
Q. Are you telling me that Howard Blank had a business card with Mexteam on it?
A. Yeah.
Q. Is there anything else you can tell me about Mexteam?
A. To my impression, all purchase for the ship went through that company.
Q. Mexteam?
A. Yeah.

Howard Blank is Great Canadian’s Director of Media & Public Relations, and the company spokesman most often quoted in news coverage of their expansion into the WA market. Tom Bell is their Executive Director of Corporate Development. So what are two Great Canadian directors doing with Mexteam business cards? Well, according to Mr. Sikimic (again, not accused of libel,) they’re not the only Great Canadian principals involved:

Q. Okay. What do you know about Mexteam, if anything?
A. They’re in Hong Kong. Those guys, the one there, I think they had an office there, Walter and other people. They’re in some connection, but for the record I don’t know what exactly.
Q. Okay. Some connection, you mean connection with the ship or what? What do you mean by that?
A. I think with the ship and Great Canadian. Probably it’s Charles’ company. I don’t know. I think it’s his company.

“Walter” is Walter Soo, Great Canadian’s VP of Gaming Development, who developed the whole China Sea Discovery project, and ran the operations in Hong Kong. “Charles” is Charles Ming, a Great Canadian Director and major shareholder who, according to Washington State Gambling Commission documents has twice been charged with bribing public officials. (Although his conviction was overturned on a technicality. Presumably by a public official.)

So you can see what Allegiance is getting at. The China Sea Discovery lost money throughout its operations, yet the “independent” contractor operating and supplying the ship — presumably at a profit — is controlled by Great Canadian directors and shareholders. No conflict of interest there, huh?

But still, business ventures sometimes fail. It’s not like people were just walking into the casino and grabbing wads of cash.

A. Specifically that there is a tape and report that we see the person unknown to me comes and grab the money from the pile of the money in the cash cage. You see the guy grabs the money and walk. That’s on the tape.

Oh. According to the non-libelous Mr. Sikimic, they were just grabbing wads of cash. And it’s on tape. But surely that’s an isolated incident of theft, right? Not according to Mr. Avramovic:

A. Surveillance just receive a phone call and we’ve been telling by Dennis Kwan or someone from the cage that they’re going to be giving them some sum, like some money to them. We didn’t know who those people are. We didn’t know if they return the money later on or not.
Q. Well, where was the money given to them?
A. Well, that was the funny part because we were there not to ask questions. We had a problem because we didn’t know exactly names who —
Q. You didn’t recognize these individuals? Is that what you’re saying?
A. Well, most of the times the money was given to the individuals that we didn’t know.
Q. Okay. Where did they go to get it, though?
A. They went to the cash cage and they’ve been paid by cashier person, and sometimes they go and play and sometimes they just go and disappear.

See why Allegiance is a tad suspicious? Mr. Sikimic’s testimony corroborates that this practice was the rule, not the exception, and both depositions make it clear that contrary to normal casino operations, no receipts or markers where ever signed, nor proper records of these transactions kept. So was this just sloppy bookkeeping, or as Allegiance contends, deliberate profit skimming sanctioned by Great Canadian executives?

Well remember Dennis Kwan, mentioned above? He was the ship’s Casino Manager (not to be confused with Director of Operational Systems & Controls, Grace Chow, who was apparently having an affair with project director Walter Soo.) Mr. Sikimic (libel-free) recounts the following incident involving Mr. Kwan:

A. I received phone call that money was stolen, that manager stole the money.
Q. The manager stole the money.
A. Yeah. I said send me something in writing, you know. He send me in writing that Dennis Kwan took — amount I’m not sure, so I can’t tell you is it 30 or 40,000. And I went with that to Brian Egli, report that. I says, what are we going to do? We’ve got a guy stole the money, you know. So we called Adrian. Adrian told me that he didn’t steal the money, that he told him to take the money. That’s explanation and no question ask.

Okay, so the Casino Manager is walking out of the cage with wads of cash stuffed down his pants, unaccounted for, and Great Canadian President & COO Adrian Thomas says, that’s okay, I told him to take it. Hmmm. One can see how Allegiance might misinterpret this as “profit skimming.”

So, as Allegiance Capital is losing its entire investment in the China Sea Discovery, Great Canadian is apparently staffing the ship with its own employees, and sub-contracting management of day-to-day operations to Mexteam, a company which, coincidentally, is owned and operated by Great Canadian shareholders, directors, and executives. (It’s very possible that Walter Soo quite literally sold himself a bill of goods.) Meanwhile, cash is constantly walking out of the casino in the pockets of Great Canadian managers… or even total strangers.

And all these questionable (in my opinion, clearly illegal) activities are happening with the knowledge and consent of Great Canadian executives: the improper business relationship with Mexteam, the undocumented cash disbursements, the apparent profit skimming. Not to mention the prostitutes and Chinese mobsters.

Oh. Did I forget to mention the Chinese mobsters?

The depositions occasionally mention the mysterious Mr. Y, whose posse was known to carry guns onboard the ship during his frequent visits. At some point the business relationship went sour, as evidenced by Mr. Avramovic’s amusing testimony of the ship’s ignominious escape from China:

Q. Wait a minute. You ran away from China, what do you mean by that?
A. Well, we had an unpleasant experience in China like I mention before. We had real trouble with Mr. Y, that mob guy. He’s been threatening some of the Great Canadian employees there, to be more specific, Walter Soo, Grace Chow, Tyrone White and Dennis Kwan. They, I mean, literally ran off the ship.
Q. They literally did what? I’m sorry.
A. Like ran off the ship.
Q. They ran off the ship?
A. Yeah.
Q. Because of Mr. Y?
A. Mr. Y was making some demands about the money that he invest and Walter Soo tried to resolve the issues, then Walter Soo’s being threatened by him. Mr. Y wanted money back in order to free the ship from China. Right after that meeting, the whole GCC crew just disappear, like ran off. The only guys who’s staying on the ship were myself and my assistant.

Apparently, Allegiance wasn’t the only unhappy investor, but Mr. Y wasn’t about to hide behind lawyers like those girly boys from Texas. He made great Canadian an offer they couldn’t refuse, and eventually the China Sea Discovery limped towards safe harbor in Taiwan. Where according to Mr. Avramovic it sat idle, because the floating casino no longer had its “float.”

Q. When you say you didn’t have a float, would you tell me what that means for the record?
A. Well, float means casino float. It’s operating funds that casino would operate. To open a casino for business, you have to have some certain amount of money to back up the chips that you have on the floor. So that’s what we call a float.
Q. Okay. When did the float disappear?
A. The float disappear together with — when GCC staff took off.

The China Sea Discovery didn’t just lose money… it literally lost the money. The casino’s float disappeared entirely!

Damning allegations I admit, but let’s not jump to any conclusions. Perhaps Great Canadian’s attorney is correct when he suggests that these questionable activities — the fraudulent relationship with Mexteam, the undocumented cash disbursements, the profit skimming, the prostitution and the mob connections — are all just normal business practices for a Hong Kong casino.

And why should we care anyway? What happens in China stays in China. None of this translates to illegal activities in Great Canadian’s B.C. and WA state casinos, right?

Well, that’s where the loansharking at B.C. casinos comes in, which Mr. Avramovic explains was his main reason for leaving his job.

A. The main purpose of me leaving Great Canadian Casino was I didn’t want to get involved in some stuff that they were illegal.
Q. Okay. What are you talking about specifically?
A. Loan sharks activities, selected barring of loan sharks.
Q. Okay. What was your problem with these activities?
A. Well, I notice that the company and some people at the head office, including my director, were very selective who they’re going to bar. So some loan sharks were allowed to stay and some small-timer loan sharks were asked to leave. We also collect evidence that one of the casino lead managers was involved in this transaction and he was borrowing money of them. We also report that one of the loan sharks rape one of the dealers which never been report to authorities, never been investigate. I’ve been reporting that illegal cigarettes have been selling at the Holiday Inn concession casino.

Oh that’s right, I forgot to mention the unreported rape and the illegal cigarette sales.

But apart from the fraudulent Mexteam relationship, the undocumented cash disbursements, the profit skimming, the mob connections, and the loansharking, rape and illegal cigarette sales at B.C. casinos… Great Canadian is an upstanding corporate citizen, right?

A. The guy who supposed to take Boki’s position, Patrick Ennis, he was the guy who offered me drugs.

Yeah… well… it turns out that Patrick Ennis, the current Supervisor of Surveillance and Security for all of Great Canadian’s casinos, allegedly offered Mr. Avramovic cocaine on several occasions. A fact that was dutifully reported to management, before they promoted Mr. Ennis.

That doesn’t look so good.

But perhaps this is all due to a couple of bad apples. Surely, if top management knew about illegal activities in their B.C. casinos, somebody would have put a stop it. Mr. Avramovic continues:

A. One of the security/surveillance managers meeting, I’ve been advised by my director, who was Boki Sikimic, that I supposed to direct my people to turn their heads the other way when they see those big loan sharks around because that’s good for business. I also been advised by — someone else was present on that meeting. It was Carl Bolton, who’s sitting right there.
Q. You mean Carl Bolton in this room?
A. Yeah. He’s been explaining how to avoid to report everything to the authorities.
Q. To what authority, for instance?
A. For instance, British Columbia Lottery Corporation and GPEB.

And who is this Carl Bolton who explained how to avoid reporting everything to authorities? None other than Great Canadian’s Director of Compliance. So top management not only knows about the illegal activities, but they ask security and surveillance to look the other way, because loansharks are “good for business.”

Perhaps it’s the language barrier, but I can’t help but infer that the job of the “Director of Compliance” is to assure that the company actually complies with all British Columbia Lottery Corporation and Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch (GPEB) regulations and reporting requirements.

Not that it apparently would have mattered. Mr. Avramovic claims that he made numerous formal and informal reports of illegal activities directly to B.C. authorities, to little avail.

A. I’ve been told by both agencies that that information is going to be processed. All those discrepancy that I mention, not on the ship, that I mention about the drugs, rape, selling the illegal cigarettes, loan sharks problem, they’ve been telling me that they were going to look into it but that right now it’s not good time because it’s expansion of the gaming industry there, so definitely somebody will look after that and somebody will contact me.

No, you wouldn’t want allegations of drugs, rape, illegal cigarette sales and loansharking at B.C. casinos to be made public at a time you are massively expanding the gaming industry there.

That would be irresponsible.

However here in America we believe voters have the right to know what kind of company is sponsoring the most massive expansion of gambling in state history. So here’s all you really need to know about Richmond B.C. based Great Canadian:

It has given at least $210,000 to I-892, more than any other contributor.

It stands to earn $20 million a year from slot machines at its 4 WA casinos.

It intends to expand its presence in WA, dominating the market like it does back home.

It can be expected to bring the same ethical standards to its WA casinos that it brought to its loanshark-infested B.C. casinos, and its Hong Kong based floating brothel.

Personally, I’m not willing to roll the dice on Great Canadian or I-892.

(Note: tomorrow I will post a video clip of Great Canadian boasting about its plans to put slot machines into WA’s “bedroom communities”.)

Local media has been sitting on this story for months, but finally, it’s in The P-I! [I-892 backer fights loan-sharking allegations]

There are two important issues here… allegations of criminal activities by one of the largest casino operators in the state… and the cowardly, un-American way they have been using Canadian libel laws to scare local media into hushing up the news.

Please check back in couple hours, for a very detailed account of these allegations, including extended excerpts from the legal depositions. I will also make the depositions available for download.