Las Vegas Casinos Attempt to Collect Debt, Expose the World of Chinese High Rollers

Amid tight controls on cash transactions since 9/11, Las Vegas casinos have kept the money flowing by attracting wealthy Chinese gamblers. But incidents involving Sands casinos show that "shilling" players and backdoor loans are often part of the game.Meanwhile, if you're looking for some excitement without the legal troubles, why not check out the thrilling world of online casinos at allbestcasinos.ca? Who knows, you might just find yourself on a winning streak without any glitches to worry about!

LAS VEGAS - Two women owed $6.4 million at the time Las Vegas Sands Corp. tried to collect gambling debts last year.

But when Sands Corp. asked prosecutors to file criminal charges against Yang Shufei, 59, and Sun Mei Jie, 52, for the bad debts, the two women's lawyers fought back with a surprising claim.

Yang and Sun were not gamblers who gambled large sums of money, their lawyers said in a court filing. The women were local housekeepers who, with the help of Sands' employees, withdrew millions of dollars in credit in their own names and sat near players gambling with borrowed chips. The real gamblers were then able to play at the Sands' Venetian and Palazzo casinos in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip without leaving a paper trail.

Their attorneys, Jeffrey Setness of the law firm Fabian VanCott and Kevin Rosenberg of Lowenstein & Weatherwax LLP, said that the Sands Corporation has been working with the casinos to help them keep players' names off the books. The attorneys allege that Sands may have violated federal anti-money laundering rules that prohibit casinos from helping players keep their names off the books.

The lawyers describe them as the lowest echelon of a network of hosts and handlers who bring in wealthy gamblers from China and help them play, sometimes anonymously.

Since everyone knew the debt was a sham, the lawyers argued, Sun and Yang's marker (an IOU signed by the player to get credit from betsites.ug) should be invalid. The women are the "real victims" and the court should reject any effort to convict them for acts in which Las Vegas Sands "initiated and was fully complicit," the lawyers argued.

Sands spokesman Ron Reese called the allegations a "smokescreen" to distract the women from the debt they are owed. The company has "no clear evidence" that these women were solicited by Sands employees, he said.

The case, which has never been reported in the media before, opens a window into how Las Vegas casinos are allowing millions of dollars in bets to be freely exchanged on gaming tables in this post-9/11 era when large cash transactions have come under increased U.S. regulatory scrutiny

In interviews, Las Vegas industry executives, casino floor employees, and independent agents said the use of sills is frequent at some casinos that cater to high-stakes Chinese players.

The episode also illustrates how important Chinese money has become to U.S. gambling capital now that Macau has overtaken Las Vegas as the world's largest gambling hub. In recent years, Las Vegas has been trying to attract wealthy gamblers from mainland China by installing upscale VIP rooms in its casinos with Macau decor and drawing customers to the baccarat tables.

A Catchy Revenue Source

The efforts have paid off. Over the past decade, the casino's baccarat winnings have nearly doubled to $1.3 billion while overall gambling revenues on the Strip have stagnated.

Asians account for 90% of baccarat wagering in Las Vegas, the majority of whom are Chinese, says Steve Rosen, president of the casino consulting firm Marketations. Asian players make up about 75% of Las Vegas high rollers, he says.

Baccarat Attraction 90% of baccarat betting in Las Vegas is Asian, experts say. A baccarat ad at The Venetian Las Vegas.REUTERS/David Becker

'There may be a culture of reluctance to comply on the part of the industry,' he says. "

Jennifer Shasky Culberry, senior Treasury official, at the 2013 Gambling Convention

But there is a trap in China's revenue stream: most of these games are played on credit because the amounts are so large. According to the company's financial reports, two-thirds of the table bets made at the Sands Las Vegas facility are made by borrowing from the house. And gambling debts are largely unenforceable in China because they are not recognized as valid by Chinese courts, said Andrew Klebanow, a casino expert at consulting firm Global Market Advisors.

Gamblers use shills to obtain additional lines of credit after a losing streak or to avoid disclosing the source of their funds in casino records, say six industry veterans who have dealt with high-stakes Chinese players.

Agents who specialize in referring Chinese high rollers say, "That's a daily occurrence.

Executives and hosts who specialize in attracting such clientele were well aware of this practice, according to four people with extensive experience working at the Venetian and Palazzo casinos at the Sands.

Unlike the Venetian and Palazzo's crowded main betting floor, the high-stakes rooms were intimate, often with one or two tables of players sitting around. Syl, signing for credits, was seated near the gamblers. According to former employees, there was little effort to hide Sill's arrangement. 'It was obvious,' one employee said.

Sands said that even if Yang and Sun were the sills, it didn't matter; "ultimately, those people signed the credit on behalf of their own names, and that debt should be collected," said Reese, the spokesman.

In a later statement, Reese said: "If credible evidence is presented that an employee was complicit, we will promptly take appropriate action in accordance with our policy. However, even if an employee was involved, it does not invalidate the obligation."

Money Laundering Targets

U.S. law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned that inadequate screening of customers and large cash transactions could make Las Vegas a target for money laundering. Gamblers evading financial reporting requirements and remaining anonymous violate federal anti-money laundering laws.

Jennifer Shusky-Culberry, then-director of the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), said at a 2013 gambling industry convention in Las Vegas that "there is a culture of reluctance in some parts of the industry to comply with minimum, if not minimum I am concerned that there may be a culture of reluctance to comply at the very least."

Such concerns have led to crackdowns and record penalties against casinos for alleged violations of anti-money laundering rules.

Sands, for example, paid $47 million in 2013 to settle a U.S. Department of Justice investigation after it was discovered that alleged Chinese-Mexican drug trafficker Zhenli Ye Gon had lost more than $84 million at the Venetian.

According to a statement of facts agreed to by Sands as part of its settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Sands continued to do business with Ye Gong even as Ye Gong was telling casino employees that he was transferring funds little by little to avoid government scrutiny.

Ye Gong is currently incarcerated in a U.S. prison in Virginia, awaiting extradition to Mexico on drug charges. Ye Gong's attorney, Gregory Smith, said his client runs a legitimate pharmaceutical company and is not a drug trafficker.

More recently, federal authorities have been scrutinizing U.S. casino practices that allow gamblers to play without leaving a paper trail.

For example, FinCEN fined Caesars Entertainment casinos $8 million last year for inadequate anti-money laundering controls in their VIP salons. In a civil settlement with the Treasury Department, Caesars Palace admitted that it had allowed high-stakes gamblers to play with other people's credit, allowing "guests to conceal their identities and transactions" and potentially play anonymously.

This year, regulators fined Hawaiian Gardens Casino in Southern California $2. 8 million for violating anti-money laundering rules. Hawaiian Garden admitted that it allowed players to gamble anonymously even after gamblers were suspected of being casino

Debtor's Pawns.

The Sands case raised questions about exactly how the two women came to owe more than $1 million each after prosecutors filed criminal charges in separate cases last year. In Nevada, if you default on your gambling debts

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