CLG: 'Betting on the downfall': George Soros had a $42 million short open on MGM

 News Updates from CLG
12 October 2017

http://www.legitgov.org/
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Previous edition: Terror in Las Vegas: People run for their lives as at least one gunman opens fire near Mandalay Bay

 

Special Las Vegas Shooting 'Oddities' Edition - compiled by LRP --An online copy of this edition can be found here: http://www.legitgov.org/Las-Vegas-Shooting-Oddities-Compiled-CLG-News.

 

'Betting on the downfall': George Soros had a $42 million short open on MGM | 10 Oct 2017 | On Tuesday, September 5th, 2017, the board of MGM Resorts International decided to approve a $1 billion share repurchase program. At 17.7 billion today, the program represented a significant portion of its current market cap. By the end of the week, MGM's CEO, James Murren, had coolly divested himself of 80% of the shares he owned in his company. The divestment came just days before the ex-dividend date on September 8th, 2017. The sales were originally disclosed in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Murren had previously divested 57,269 shares on July 31st and August 9th, 2017. It's currently unclear why Murren chose to sell when he did...Mr. Murren and his fellow board members were not the only speculators who were bearish on MGM's prospects. Billionaire investor George Soros also bought $42 million worth of puts on the company, according to SEC filings from mid August. [Notes: MGM Resorts International is the owner of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, the site of the October 1, 2017, shooting. See definitions of 'put option' (here) and 'Short (or Short Position)' (here). More info can be found here. --LRP]

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CLG News Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. Copyright © 2017, Citizens for Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.

What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas?

Mandalay Bay agrees to $500K fine in drug sting

Thursday, March 13, 2014

 

 

LAS VEGAS — The Mandalay Bay Resort plans to pay a half-million-dollar fine after employees at an upscale Las Vegas Strip lounge provided prostitutes and drugs to undercover officers.

 

The Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a proposed settlement with the casino this week. It's awaiting approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission.

 

Authorities say undercover officers bought cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs from employees of the House of Blues Foundation Room over the summer of 2012. Officials say employees also connected officers with four prostitutes and a private room for sex. The sting caught 10 employees and five non-employees engaging in this kind of illegal activity.

 

Two have been arrested, according to Gaming Control Board Enforcement Chief Karl Bennison, and more arrests may be in the works. The arrests were delayed to avoid disruption to the operation.

 

"You're trying to see how far up the management chain things are being directed," Bennison said.

 

Officials with Mandalay Bay parent company MGM Resorts do not contest the findings of the complaint. The company said the employees involved in the activities have been fired, and the lounge has increased its training procedures to prevent future misconduct.

 

"While these activities took place outside our knowledge, we acknowledge our responsibility, as landlords, to monitor all nightclub and ultra-lounge operators at our resorts. The intolerable activities discovered by investigators are obviously completely contrary to the type of luxury resort our company strives to run," the company said in a statement. "House of Blues has increased its compliance and training procedures and reemphasized its zero tolerance for inappropriate conduct."

 

Mandalay Bay will also pay $17,000 to reimburse investigative expenses.

 

The Foundation Room is a chic restaurant and club on the 43rd floor of Mandalay Bay, which is on the Las Vegas Strip.

 

The complaint says that the investigation was initiated after an undercover officer bought cocaine from a person later determined to be a Foundation Room host. The officer asked the host if he could use the drug at the club and was told he could, if he was careful.

 

Most of the transactions that occurred during the sting took place in public areas in the casino.

 

State gambling regulators partnered with local police to conduct a similar sting in 2012 at the Palms

Casino Resort west of the Las Vegas Strip. In that case, nightclub employees accepted payments to supply prostitutes, cocaine and pain pills

 

Last spring, gambling regulators sent a letter to all casinos warning them to curb illegal activity at clubs and pool parties.

 

"It's a constant issue and concern, Bennison said.

 

 

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/national/2014/03/mandalay_bay_agrees_to_500k_fine_in_drug_sting

 

 

China woman gets prison in Vegas casino fraud case

Updated 3:46 pm, Thursday, January 23, 2014

 

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Chinese woman who told a federal judge she sought asylum in the U.S. after taking part in demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for her role in a Las Vegas casino baccarat-fraud scheme.

 

Irene Li's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender William Carrico, said Thursday he was "virtually certain" the 53-year-old Li will be deported to China after her 47 months in prison.

 

Li applied for political refuge more than 10 years ago, but her case was denied and she remained subject to deportation, Carrico said. He said Li told him she had been active in the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement and fled to the U.S. to avoid arrest.

 

Li pleaded guilty in October to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a plea deal that had 28 wire fraud charges against her dismissed.

 

She asked Wednesday for leniency from U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon, saying through a Mandarin language interpreter that she felt ashamed and sorry for her crimes, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported (http://bit.ly/1fa6UKN ).

 

Gordon credited Li with participating in the demonstrations in China nearly 25 years ago, but he said it didn't excuse her criminal actions in Las Vegas.

 

The judge ordered Li to repay $2.2 million in damages to five Las Vegas casinos — the Planet Hollywood, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Mirage and MGM Grand.

 

Li's husband, Xi Sheng Zhang, 57, remains a fugitive in the case, said Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden.

 

Li and Zhang were indicted in April 2011 on charges that they recruited people to open bank accounts, apply for casino credit and withdraw chips to play baccarat between 2004 and 2009.

 

Prosecutor Andrew Duncan alleged that Li and Zhang placed recruits at tables where they gambled and used a scheme known as "rolling the chips" to give chips to co-conspirators.

 

The chips were cashed, and Li gave the recruits a cut of the ill-gotten proceeds, Duncan said. The recruits then disappeared, leaving the casinos unable to collect their debts.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/China-woman-gets-prison-in-Vegas-casino-fraud-case-5169319.php