Sheldon Adelson’s Singapore Casino Agrees to Settle Lawsuit
The Marina Bay Sands, a casino in Singapore owned by
billionaire Sheldon Adelson, agreed to pay a settlement of US$6.5 million to a
Chinese gambler who claimed that the sum had been withdrawn from his account
and transferred to other guests without his approval.
The out-of-court settlement, which was made in June and was
first reported by Bloomberg on Sunday, triggered a series of additional
investigations by local Singaporean authorities, who are reportedly considering
introducing stricter regulations that would clamp down on money laundering and
terrorist financing.
According to the news outlet, Adelson’s Singapore casino,
one of the most profitable in the world, is also facing a grand jury subpoena
issued by the U.S. Justice Department, which is looking into its role in “money
laundering facilitation.”
The multi-million dollar settlement, which rids it of having
to make any admission of liability or wrongdoing, follows similar legal actions
that Adelson’s casinos have taken in the past.
Its Macau subsidiary was reportedly under federal
investigation in 2015 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after a
former executive claimed that it had paid an intermediary tens of millions to
distribute bribes to numerous Chinese public officials.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed its
investigation after the casino agreed to pay a $9 million settlement, which
also cleared it from having to admit any criminal wrongdoing.
At the time, casino magnate Adelson, one of the largest
Republican Party donors in history who is reportedly expected to donate over
$100 million for President Trump’s 2020 reelection effort, said that his casino
was under investigation because he opposed Barack Obama, who was then serving
as president at the time.
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