Written by: Aidan Jonah

The Bureau founder, journalist Sam Cooper, is blaming China after being caught using Chinese movie footage as ‘casino security footage’ for an ‘exclusive’ article.

On September 4, 2024, The Bureau released Sam Cooper’s article titled "Exclusive: Ex-Mountie Bill Majcher Linked to Meeting with Tse Chi Lop, Chinese Triad Leaders".

The article subheading claimed "Casino footage and hotel records indicate the former Canadian police officer charged with working for China gathered with senior mafia figures in Macau".

The headline image used is:

However, a post by a Hong Kong based writer, Nury Vittachi, claimed that Cooper’s headline image came from a Chinese movie. The Canada Files reviewed the claim, and found footage from the film, cast information (Western source also) and movie reviews which confirm that Bill/William Majcher appeared in the 2015 film, 'From Vegas to Macau II'.

The clip from the 2015 movie, and The Bureau's headline image are an exact match. See below:

A still at 1:18:47 of 'From Vegas to Macau II', which is subbed in Indonesian:

The Canada Files reached out to Sam Cooper and The Bureau for comment and with questions, giving three days to reply. Cooper did not respond to the request and these questions:

Do you dispute that your thumbnail image is sourced from a 2015 Chinese movie which Bill/William Majcher appeared in, titled 'From Vegas to Macau II'?
Was your thumbnail image obtained from a source or individual other than yourself, or was the footage found by yourself?
Do you intend to modify your September 4 article titled "Exclusive: Ex-Mountie Bill Majcher Linked to Meeting with Tse Chi Lop, Chinese Triad Leaders", or leave it as is?

Questions 1 and 3 were answered by The Bureau’s public actions, but question 2 is still unanswered. There’s a hint, however. Cooper wrote on September 8, 2024, that:

“The Bureau withdrew a story about William Majcher published in September 2024 after it became evident that I had been the target of a sophisticated and persistent undercover operation since March 2024.”

Cooper’s full article, titled “The Bureau withdraws Majcher story pursuant to investigation”, puts the blame for his journalistic failure on Chinese ‘transnational repression’ and a ‘sophisticated and persistent undercover operation since March 2024’. In short, Cooper says it is all China’s fault.

Sam Cooper’s guide on how not to do journalism: his own journalism

Sam Cooper’s journalism has been scrutinized by The Canada Files since 2021, when this author subjected themselves to reading Sam Cooper’s book, Wilful Blindness. In September 2021, this author found that, amidst claiming, without evidence, that China’s government uses criminals as proxies to do money laundering in Canada, Cooper admits his sources come almost exclusively from the DEA, RCMP, CSIS, and “the US national security community.”

In December 2022, we found Cooper had been caught falsely claiming Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was briefed with names of 'Chinese-funded’ election candidates. The article was full of anonymous intelligence sources. By this point it became clear that Cooper worshipped the word of the intelligence agencies in North America, CSIS particularly.

With Cooper’s reliance on the word and reports of the intelligence community, consider Canada’s Deputy Minister of Affairs, David Morrison’s statement that: "Intelligence is not truth.” There is a major difference between intelligence agencies making allegations in reports (which may be referenced in intelligence briefings by other agencies) or via leaks, and prosecution of supposed Chinese interference in Canada, which would require evidence strong enough to hold up in court, something which has yet to be presented.

The Han Dong incident came in Spring 2023. On March 22, 2023, Sam Cooper reported, using anonymous national security sources, that MP Han Dong had secretly advised China’s consul general in Toronto to delay releasing the Two Michaels, back in 2021. Back in February 2023, Cooper’s reporting alleged that CSIS believes Dong “is a witting affiliate in China’s election interference networks.”

The Globe and Mail released an article one day after Cooper’s March report, where they said they declined to publish the story, as their own source “told them the PMO received the transcript [of Dong’s talk with China’s consul general in Toronto] from CSIS, reviewed it and came to the conclusion that there was no ‘actionable evidence’ against Dong”, noted Davide Mastracci for The Maple. On the same day, Dong resigned from the Liberal caucus, while denying allegations against him.

In April 2023, Dong sued Global News, parent company Corus Entertainment, Cooper and other Global staffers for Cooper’s reporting on him, for $15 million. In May 2023, for separate reporting, Michael Chan sued Sam Cooper, Robert Fife and CSIS for $10 million. On June 7, 2023, Cooper left Global News and then founded The Bureau.

In the following months, Cooper carried on his cherished pastime of blaming China for domestic Canadian problems and spouting whatever his sources told him. With the advent of a foreign interference inquiry having begun in Fall 2023, Cooper dropped pretenses of ‘journalistic objectivity’

In December 2023, Cooper called for Chinese Canadian organizations against McCarthyism to be prevented from suing Canada’s Attorney General in regular courts - under the guise that their resistance is “CCP lawfare” – they should only be allowed to sue in special ‘national security’ courts. Then Cooper indirectly compared Senator Yuen Pau Woo to a person he says is a ‘transnational gangster’, Paul King Jin, in that when Jin “got standing at the Cullen Commission it chilled witnesses”. Cooper finished his poll question by ‘asking’ if “the upcoming FI Commission [should] be concerned of “PRC lawfare”, and then said Senator Woo is “my top concern on CCP lawfare and CSIS has files”.

When The Canada Files reached out to Mr. Pau Woo last year, he fiercely denied Cooper’s inference and indirect comparisons.

Two weeks later, Cooper took a break from his China hysteria, to call for an anti-racketeering law (a RICO law) in Canada to crack down on pro-Palestine protest, claiming these protests are supported by foreign actors. Cooper also said 'someone needs to be accountable for their education' of University students who support Palestine.

Cooper’s legendary reliability was put under question by his sourcing in a December 20, 2023, article which cited a July 2023 Canadian immigration ruling by Immigration and Refugee Board member Iris Kohler to back up his rhetoric against the UFWD and its supposed malice towards Canada, and the ‘egregiousness’ of Senator Woo’s words promising to oppose smears against those who are members of an organization in China’s UFWD.

The one problem with the report? Kohler’s ruling cites exactly zero evidence showing UFWD spying or malice towards Canada, while other references to supposed UFWD characteristics/activities, come via the claims of an unnamed “an Australian think tank”, or articles which are referenced as exhibits the public can’t immediately access when checking references.

Cooper, if you couldn’t tell, was opposed to Senator Yuen Pau Woo having been granted Intervenor Standing (without the ability to ask questions of witnesses) for the foreign interference inquiry.

Further showcasing the excellence of Cooper’s reporting, on June 20, 2024, an Ontario Superior Court judge allowed MP Han Dong’s lawsuit against Global, Corus, Cooper and other Global staffers, after finding that there was “no documented evidence to support allegations made against former Liberal MP Han Dong in a series of Global News stories last year.”

Cooper then spent the next few months doing his usual shtick: saying whatever national security and law enforcement sources tell him.

Yet, five days ago, Cooper finally went too far. Never before had one of Cooper’s articles making wild claims about individuals connected to Canada-China relations actually been withdrawn. Not only was the article withdrawn, but Cooper had to withdraw it from his very own publication.

Turns out people aren’t a huge fan of reporters using movie footage to fake a big ‘exclusive’. What a shocker.

Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a socialist, anti-imperialist news outlet founded in 2019. Jonah wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.

Editor’s note: The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.

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