The headlines have been sensational.

The public has reacted with anger and fury.

But in the end, prosecutors have stayed money-laundering charges against a Richmond-based company, Silver International Investments Ltd., and two men—Caisuan Qin and Jain Jun Zhu—that arose out of the RCMP's massive E-Pirate probe. It investigated how ill-gotten cash was allegedly washed through B.C. casinos.

A Public Prosecution Service of Canada spokesperson told the Vancouver Sun's Gordon Hoekstra that "the charges did not meet its prosecution test, which stipulate there be a reasonable prospect of conviction on evidence likely to be available at trial and it would serve the public interest".

Meanwhile, the media's heavy coverage of money laundering—which has been fuelled in part by the Dirty Money report commissioned by Attorney General David Eby—has contributed to a Sinophobic backlash on various websites.

This week, for example, a commenter on the Global B.C. News site included this comment about "the chinese": "I wonder how long before push come to shove before we push back with great violence."

That was followed by this response: "Yup kill them all..."

These public calls for violence came in response to a Global B.C. story about a secret RCMP report about money being laundered into real estate. The report included a plea for greater resources from Ottawa to address the issue—just as finance ministry officials are working on next year's federal budget.

Last month, Eby issued a statement to OnePacificNews insisting that anyone "who uses the German report to legitimize anti-Chinese sentiment is intentionally distorting the findings in order to perpetuate racist attacks".

“Any criminal actions, such as threats or hate crimes, should be brought to the appropriate local law enforcement agency,"  Eby declared.