A bar manager, resident of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, admitted Tuesday, at the Montreal courthouse, to having laundered $18 million in dirty money in just 10 months, in 2020.
Andrew Barera, 37, was arrested in 2022 following a major investigation called Carnet, carried out by the Joint Proceeds of Crime Investigation Unit of Division C (Quebec) of the Royal Gendarmerie of Canada (RCMP).
According to public court documents obtained by The Pressthe investigation began in March 2020 following a request for assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the Boston area, United States, which was to collect money from a man unknown in the Laval sector and then transferred it to a group of cocaine exporters from Colombia.
On March 13, 2020, the day emergency measures against the COVID-19 pandemic were triggered in Quebec, an undercover RCMP officer met the Laval resident – later identified as Yan Trépanier – who told him handed over $560,000 in cash and half of a torn bank note.
Using a torn banknote (called token in criminal circles) is a widespread practice in money laundering: the person who received the money then gives it to the person who should ultimately receive the amount, and who has the other part of the note; this allows them to be sure to give it to the right person.
From one thing to another
After their double agent received the $560,000, RCMP investigators began following Yan Trépanier and he led them to Andrew Barera.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM A JUDICIAL DOCUMENT
Andrew Barera
They began following Barera and observed him, for several weeks, going to parking lots, businesses, some of which were linked to the Montreal mafia, and currency exchange counters.
They saw him meet several people, some linked to different branches of organized crime, and receive or hand over bags during these meetings.
During the surveillance, Barera was frequently observed entering or leaving a condo in a building on rue Saint-Louis, in the borough of Saint-Laurent in Montreal.
During the investigation, police surreptitiously entered the barely furnished condo five times, where there was no food or clothing.
In particular, they discovered a sum of $46,000 in money, but above all notebooks in which large sums of money and dates were written.
On several of these dates, police observed Barera handing over or receiving a bag during an encounter with another person, and sleuths were able to connect these encounters with transaction entries in the notebooks.
“We are talking about a monetary flow of 18 million in just 10 months. Mr. Barera recognizes that all these amounts come from the fruits of crime. He recognizes that he is the only person who wrote these accounts verified by the surveillance,” summarized federal prosecutor Philippe Legault after the hearing.
Two pistols and ammunition
During their latest search of the condo on Saint-Louis Street, RCMP investigators also found two Glock pistols and ammunition.
PHOTO PROVIDED
With this Glock pistol, the police found a silencer and a magazine containing 13 bullets.
An accomplice of Barera, Michael-Joey D’Opéra, a 28-year-old computer technician, pleaded guilty to possession charges relating to these two handguns.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM A JUDICIAL DOCUMENT
Michael-Joey D’Opéra
The two men, who have no criminal record, will receive their sentence next January. “Prepare to go to prison,” said Judge Pierre Dupras of the Court of Quebec.
Me Isabelle Teolis represents Andrew Barera while Me Louis Belleau defends Michael-Joey D’Opéra.
The case of Yan Trépanier, who is accused of conspiracy to import a substance, has not yet been resolved and must return to court next month.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.