About the Book
This newly updated book provides readers with over 18,000 words of new information regarding the infiltration of China, Russia and Iranian agents to undermine the very democracy we hold dear. Politicians and business elite including former Ambassador to Canada, Dominic Barton facilitated and helped the criminal enterprises get a secure hold in the West. Cooper has exposed the close ties between Chinese nationals who are dedicated to Beijing and have bought influence with all political parties in Canada. It's about time that former PM's cut their lucrative arrangements with the PRC and Cooper makes a compelling case as to how money through these networks has undermined our political process and policy engagement with the Peoples's Republic of China.
About the Author :
Sam Cooper is an award-winning Canadian journalist, cited as one of Canada’s top investigative reporters. He started with Vancouver Province in 2009, where he started to investigate political corruption and real estate money laundering in Vancouver. Cooper broke the B.C. casino money laundering and “E-Pirate” story in 2017 at the Vancouver Sun and has now filed more than 50 exclusive stories on the widening scandal. Since winning the Jack Webster Award for student journalist at Langara College in 2005, he has won several prizes, including a Canada National Newspaper Award and a Jack Webster Award, for his reporting with the Vancouver Province on abuse of seniors in B.C. care homes. Most recently, Cooper and his Global News reporting team won the Jack Webster 2019 Excellence in Feature/Enterprise reporting – Television for their submission: Casino Diaries.
Review :
“An exclusive news report dominated the headlines in Canada in recent weeks: Canadian intelligence had warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about a vast campaign of political interference by China. Not surprisingly, the report’s author was Sam Cooper … His best-selling 2021 book, “Wilful Blindness: How a Network of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated the West,” examines violent international gangs involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and, most alarmingly, Chinese espionage and influence activity in Canada.”
Sebastian Rotella
" Sam Cooper is probably the most well informed and researched journalist in Canada on the topic of Chinese organised crime and spying activities. His work has always been supported by solid journalistic research and rigorous work. What he shared with us in this book should be mandatory reading for all elected officials from municipal, provincial or federal government.
Not to read it would be irresponsible as political or business leaders."
Michel Juneau-Katsuya
Author, National Security Specialist and Former Chief of Asia/Pacific, CSIS.
"Explosive revelations that expose our government's complicity with the Chinese Communist Party in undermining Canada's national security and democracy."
Dr. Charles Burton Senior Fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad Non-Resident Senior Fellow, European Values Center for Security Policy.
“This book reads like a thriller and is stranger than fiction. Gripping, racy and exciting, it is difficult to put down. A tale of gambling, narcotics, tycoons, criminal gangs and Communists. And the shocking part is that it’s not a novel, it is all true.
Based on meticulous research, this aptly titled book exposes the naivety and corruption at the heart of western democracies which for too long have kowtowed to the Chinese Communist Party regime and their crime syndicates and as a result put the free world in jeopardy.
"This book is a wake-up call and a must-read.”
Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch
If you want to understand war in the 21rst century. Read this to get the story"
Robert Spalding, US Brigadier General(retired)
"In Wilful Blindness, Sam Cooper has shown what security officials have been hesitant to share with Canadians until recently; that Canada is a haven for nefarious national security and transnational organized crime networks and our democracy is at risk".
Calvin Chrustie - The Critical Risk Team - Risk and Security Consultant Senior Ops Officer for Transnational Organized Crime, RCMP (retired)
New Book Dives Into Canadian Real Estate, Gangs, Laundering, And Corrupt Officials
The most important book on Canadian real estate you’ll read this year isn’t about demographics or interest rates. It’s investigative journalist Sam Cooper’s new book, Wilful Blindness: How A Network of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated The West. The controversial best-seller outlines how business tycoons and China set out for a power grab 40 years ago. The quiet cities of Toronto and Vancouver played important strategic roles. What followed was a flood of narcos, corrupt officials, and hockey bags of money.
The issue has been occurring in Vancouver for decades, but it only recently became visible. This transition from a place with a discreet underbelly to Gangster’s Paradise happened after the discovery of Canada’s weakness — real estate.
It turns out tax-free capital gains were more than ideal for money laundering. Since Canada was so dependent on real estate, most officials ignored warning signs. In fact, they actually cheered on the laundering. They even gave local buyers access to greater credit to compete. Over in rural Ontario, buyers now play bidding wars just like they do in big city Vancouver. Adorable, right? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of takeaways from this book — for all parts of the economy.
Let’s talk about three key takeaways, relating specifically to real estate markets. Opportunity, Or A Well Organized Plan? Cooper’s book is primarily about the global ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). More.....https://betterdwelling.com/new-book-dives-into-canadian-real-estate-gangs-laundering-and-corrupt-officials/
Sam’s vigorous journalism on tracking and exposing money laundering has been crucial in the national push to reform and update Canada’s laws. This book pulls his work, and indeed the work of many professionals, into one explosive narrative. Canadian lore often pitches our country as a well-meaning good partner in the world. But as Sam’s report has shown, we are a node in global systems of corruption and crime, with the infiltration and implications only becoming worse overtime.
The global money laundering and corruption detailed in this book undermines Canada’s own democracy and safety, while we act as a meeting and banking hub for criminals and states to continue to repress some of the most vulnerable people around the world. And it is not only through wilful blindness that Canada has found itself in this position. Sam shows that as the money rolls in, there are enablers in Canadian intuitions that are willing to roll out the carpet for these illicit funds, horrendous impacts be damned. Hopefully Sam’s book will wake up Ottawa into realizing that global corruption systems are one of the biggest threats the world faces, perpetuating inequality, conflict, human rights violation, and environmental degradation. And we need to act accordingly.
James Cohen, President
