A Canadian priest in Ontario has admitted to losing significantly more than CDN$500,000 (US$386,000) in charitable funds that were supposed to assist Iraqi refugees looking for asylum within the eastern Canadian province.
Canadian priest Amer Saka gambled away more than $380,000 in funds raised that were said to be utilized to aid Iraq refugees. No charges were filed against the Ontario man of the fabric.
Father Amer Saka regarding the St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church told Bishop Emanuel Shaleta in February he had gambled away all the cash, which had been gathered through parishioner donations. The Chaldean Church is headquartered in Baghdad, Iraq, and dates back to your century that is 1st though Saka’s parish in London, Ontario was created less than five years ago with Pope Benedict XVI’s blessing.
‘We believe Father Saka has a gambling that is serious and that these funds may are utilized for that function,’ Shaleta told the Toronto Star. ‘I was called by hi . . . and said he destroyed all the cash.’
The roughly $386,000 ended up being deposited into a free account entrusted to Saka by families belonging to St. Joseph’s. The finances had been said to be safeguarded by the church and utilized to assist refugees that are incoming Iraq.
The Chaldean refugee sponsorship program requires donors to aid migrants for at the least one 12 months after they arrive in Canada.
‘They would not offer this money as a contribution with regards to their church,’ Shaleta said. ‘They trusted him, this money wasn’t for him. It was to be given back in to the refugees [once they arrived here].’
It is unclear what Saka’s game of choice was at the casino, or which venue or venues he frequented.
Regardless, it’s yet another eye that is black the Catholic Church, since the religion continues to be dealing with persistent claims of intimate abuse within its organization. Simply this month, a state grand jury in Pennsylvania discovered that more than 50 priests and religious leaders into the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona sexually abused and raped children more than a 40-year period.
No formal charges have been levied on Saka, but an investigation by the London Police Service is ongoing. Saka has since checked to the Southdown Institute, an Ontario addiction and health that is mental center for clergy members.
While Saka tries to overcome their gambling addiction, parishes across the national country might want to have a closer look at their bank accounts, while the St. Joseph incident could possibly be miniscule should alternative priests try their hand during the casino with money that’s not theirs.
In February, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCBC) announced a campaign that is joint the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, help towards the Church in want Canada, and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association Canada, by which it had raised over $3.5 million.
The CCBC charity funds will apparently be distributed to Syrian refugees seeking safety in the Middle East and components of Europe. What sort of safeguards have actually been applied, if any, to protect the donations while making yes they reach refugees is unclear.
With regard to the donors and refugees, we can only pray that the $3.5 million is being better secured than the contributions collected by St. Joseph’s.
It should go without saying that priests aren’t permitted to participate in gambling activities, particularly with parishioner monies, but to reinforce that idea, Shaleta explained that ‘it’s against the rules’ of the Catholic priesthood.
Washington, D.C., is a powerhouse of intrigue, bluffs, and gambles, but that reality could 1 day extend to a real land-based casino in the District, in cases where a group funded by an anonymous organization in Delaware get its way.
Not the most glamorous location to pull tourists to, but backers of the Washington, D.C., casino are pressing an initiative in hopes of revitalizing the bad and crime-ridden (but historic) Anacostia neighborhood. (Image: elevationdcmedia.com)
A group known as the Citizens Committee meant for the Limited Gaming Initiative of 2016 is wanting to place a referendum on the ballot this November in the District of Columbia, asking area voters to decide whether casino-style gambling should be legalized in the downtown area.
Committee Chairperson Berry Jerrels, a longtime Washington activist that is political businessman, wants to spot poker, blackjack, and other card games in the historic district of Anacostia, named for the river located to its eastern.
The region ended up being originally a stronghold for the Nacochtank Indian tribe, whom were pushed out by Colonial settlers as far straight back as 1608, when Captain John Smith of Pocahontas fame moved through. Fast-forward 400 years, and the latest wampum are in the proper execution of casino potato chips to enhance the area’s coffers and job options.
‘It’s about job training, real jobs, new revenue for the city, plus an elevated, regulated video gaming experience for visitors,’ Jerrels told WAMU 88.5, the initial outlet to report regarding the casino developments. ‘Our goal would be to target the population that is visiting of District.’
Jerrels’ desire to attract and benefit off tourists visiting the capital seems fine on paper. However, the truth is that few sightseers venture across the Anacostia River away from the downtown nationwide Mall area.
A DC-based realtor that is commercial us that the Anacostia neighborhood is one associated with city’s poorest, and home to an abundance of crime and drug activity.
In accordance with data compiled from the wizardofozslot.org US Census Bureau and FBI Uniform Crime Reports, Anacostia features a 207 percent higher crime rate than the average that is national and a resident associated with area possesses one in 11 possibility of becoming a victim of a bad crime.
Local residents also do not appear too thrilled about bringing casino gambling to your community.
‘It just generally seems to me that the intersection that has such title recognition nearly as good Hope and MLK . . . [it doesn’t make sense] that you’d decimate that boulevard with some gambling facility,’ Anacostia Economic Development Corporation President Stanley Jackson stated.
Numerous hurdles stand in Jerrels’ path before he can bring their proposition to ballot.
First, the D.C. Board of Elections must accept the effort throughout a hearing scheduled for might 4. Should the board do so, Jerrels would then need to collect still 25,000 signatures to place the initiative on the ballot.
Another problem standing in their way lies with the history of his reported financial backer, US Virgin Islands-based gambling businessman Shawn Scott.
According to filings that are legal by Jerrels, Anacostia Redevelopment, an LLC registered in Delaware, is bankrolling the video gaming push. Jerrels and Scott were also in paired up in 2006 to legalize movie slots at the same Anacostia location, but that measure failed.
Scott features a checkered past when it comes to your video gaming industry, though. He’s been denied licenses in several states, and had been slapped with a $600,000 fine for forging signatures in 2004.
This time around might be the MGM National Harbor, which is scheduled to open in the second half of 2016 though Jerrels’ and Scott’s previous attempts failed, one asset for their campaign. Seven miles due south of Anacostia, it may be a compelling selling point that so long as video gaming is coming towards the area anyway, it might create sense to help keep those profits within city limits.
But the fee of bringing gambling to your populous city doesn’t, at the minute, have actually widespread support. Gambling the way that is old-fashioned been illegal into the nation’s capital for many years, and it doesn’t appear which will be changing anytime soon.
Golfer Phil Mickelson refuses to comment about any potential involvement in the money laundering case against ex-handicapper Gregory Silveira. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)
Gambler Gregory Silveira, recognized to have ties to golfer (and gambler) Phil Mickelson, has been facing costs of money laundering in A los angeles court. Nevertheless now Silveriera, who had previously plead guilty to the fees, wants to improve his plea not to.
The 56-year-old former activities handicapper from La Quinta, California a year ago admitted to three charges of laundering almost $3 million between an ‘unnamed gambling client,’ who had been later identified by ESPN as Mickelson, plus an illegal offshore sports book.
Mickelson, who’s known to have a fondness for gambling, is maybe not named in documents or accused of any criminal activity.
In March 2010, according to court documents, Silveira received a wire transfer of $2.75 million from your client into his own bank account. He then transferred $2.475 million, along with the remaining $275,000, into two split bank reports, both in his name.
According to ESPN’s Outside the Lines (OTL), a show that focuses on American sports issues ‘both on and off the field,’ a youthful variation of Silveira’s plea agreement included a reference to ‘money laundering of funds from P.M.’ When OTL inquired about the initials, the prosecution had the document stricken through the records, filing an amended version the next day.
But now Silveira desires to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was simply seeking to guard ‘an person who did perhaps not wish his wagering activity to become public.’ The ex-handicapper claims he had been offered bad advice by his past protection lawyer.
Court documents filed Tuesday by Silveira’s new attorney, James Duff, stated: ‘Silveira’s original counsel had told him that the money Silveira received from the gambler ended up being ‘tainted’ and that Silveira’s transfer of those funds constituted money laundering. These tips was incorrect.’
Duff adds within the court filing that the cash had been maybe not ‘tainted’ and that Silveira had been simply settling a friend’s ‘gambling financial obligation with legally earned money.’
Mickelson, meanwhile, refused (via their counsel) to supply an official statement on the situation, although when confronted on it all about it directly by a journalist at last year’s Scottish Open, he offered the following rather oblique comment.
‘People are planning to say things good; they are going to say things bad; they are going to say things true; they go to state things perhaps not true,’ he said. ‘The reality is, I’m comfortable enough with whom I will be as someone that I do not feel like i want to comment on every little report that comes out.’
Mickelson is famously known for gambling large on the Super Bowl, plus in 2001 was reprimanded by the PGA for wagering on the results of A tiger woods shot at the NEC Invitational, in breach of the association’s strict anti-gambling policy.
More recently, in January, he chastised 17-year-old pro that is australian Ruffles for publicly disclosing the details of a bet the 2 had made while sparring on the program. According to Ruffles, Mickelson offered him 2:1 for a $2,500 bet that he would win the game, but Mickelson lost by one shot. a disgruntled mickelson later said that the sum had been exaggerated.
The Desert Diamond West Valley Casino opened to less-than-stellar reviews last December, but that should change after the Arizona tribe managing the Glendale facility won its lawsuit against the state to offer Class III games. (Image: foxcarolina.com)
An Arizona tribe received the blessing of the 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals this week to expand its Glendale casino to add Class III gaming and feature slots and table games. In a lawsuit between the Tohono O’odham country vs. the State of Arizona, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and Gila River Indian Community, the court ruled on Tuesday that the Tohono tribe has every right to operate its Desert Diamond West Valley Casino and Resort in Glendale, Arizona.
State lawmakers and the two opposing tribes argued that Tohono does not have the legal straight to operate a casino on land that wasn’t under their ownership whenever Indian community reached its video gaming compact with Arizona in 2002.
The 9th Circuit Court rejected the state’s arguments and ruled, ‘The Tohono O’odham Nation’s plan to build a casino and conduct Class III gaming on a certain parcel of land did not violate a gaming compact between the Nation and the State of Arizona in a unanimous decision. The Compact expressly authorizes Class III gaming ( dining table card games and slots) on the ‘Indian Lands’ of the country.’
Located lower than 20 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix, the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino opened last December under much scrutiny.
The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian and Gila River Indian communities opposed the resort as a result of their own self-interests, as the two tribes run gambling enterprises into the Phoenix aspects of Chandler and Scottsdale.
Following many court decisions, the Tohono Nation was allowed to progress with its Glendale resort.
To date, the West Valley venue has just been permitted to offer Class II games. The classification is defined by the Arizona Department of Gaming as being ‘limited to games or gambling devices in line with the game of bingo, and cards in which players perform just against one another, and the house cannot win.’
The lack of slots and other popular commercial casino games has generated the West Valley Casino being panned by visitors. Bringing Class III variants towards the casino floor should revitalize interest in the facility, and, in turn, generate more revenues that are substantial.