The BC Government filed a civil lawsuit in the BC Supreme Court on November 12 against a Kelowna business they say was purchased with and operating as a money laundering operation for drug trafficking, primarily cannabis.
The government is seeking to seize two properties connected to the business it says are connected to finds from illegal drug trafficking.
The province’s director of civil forfeiture says All Out Customs & Collision Ltd. in Kelowna is a front operation that does not conduct any legitimate business.
Police raided the business in December 2023, following an investigation that began in February of the same year. Police seized 8.2 kilograms of cannabis and about three kilograms of cannabis oil, as well as a smaller amount of cocaine, MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms. Police also seized $17,000 in cash. The owner of the business and the two properties the province seeks to seize, Richard Kelly Madore, was arrested at the time.
Madore has a previous cannabis-related arrest from 2012, when he was found on a logging road with $100,000 in cash and 20 kilograms of cannabis. Those charges were later downgraded to possession, a conditional sentence, and a fine, but police contend he is a “high-level” cannabis trafficker.
The BC Civil Forfeiture Office contends that one of the properties it wants to seize, Madore’s home, was purchased with the proceeds of crime, along with his All Out Customs business and property.
Last year, the BC government passed the Civil Forfeiture Amendment Act, 2023, giving it the power to begin legal proceedings against property connected to illegal cannabis grow operations. The government had pursued such cases prior to the passage of the 2023 law, as well. BC’s civil forfeiture program was created in 2006 and has come under criticism from civil liberties groups.
In December 2023, the BC Supreme Court put a pause on the province’s efforts to seize $12 million in properties connected to illegal cannabis and psilocybin dispensaries.
In May 2024, The BC Civil Forfeiture Office began civil forfeiture proceedings against two properties following investigations into the sale and distribution of illicit cannabis by a company operating in Surrey, BC.
The investigations by Surrey RCMP into the illicit sales and distribution of cannabis took place from April 2020 to February 2022. The two properties are located in Maple Ridge and Mission
The BC government filed its fourth unexplained wealth order (UWO) application in September 2024, seeking to seize $5.6 million worth of properties connected to what police say was a large, illegal cannabis production and distribution business.
