PETER AMSEL

SHELDON ADELSON’S MARINA BAY SANDS CASINO DODGES TERROR ATTACK

AUGUST 5, 2016

Sheldon Adelson’s casino in Singapore has narrowly dodged becoming the target of a terror attack.

On Friday, Indonesian authorities announced that they’d arrested six individuals suspected of plotting a terror attack on Singapore’s Marina Bay district, the home of Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands integrated resort.

Police said the six individuals planned to fire rockets at Marina Bay from Batam, an Indonesian island located across the Strait of Singapore. The men were detained following a series of raids on multiple locations, including one at which weapons were found.

Police have so far declined to specify what type of weapons had been seized but the Straits Times quoted a neighbor of one of the arrested men saying that police had found a bomb that had “already been assembled.”

The detained individuals are allegedly part of the KGR@Katibah terrorist group. They are believed to have had help organizing the attack from Muhammad Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian currently fighting in Syria as part of the ISIS terror group. Bahrun is suspected of involvement in January’s terror attack in Jakarta that killed eight people.

The Jakarta Post reported that Indonesian authorities were acting on a tip from their Singapore counterparts. Singapore defense minister Ng Eng Hen posted a Facebook message saying that everyone “should assume that there may be more plots, other terror cells on the lookout for ways and new munitions to penetrate our defenses.”

Marina Bay is a popular hub for international tourists, as it offers a mix of residential, commercial and hotel and entertainment options, and Marina Bay Sands is one of its most visibly striking features. There is no evidence that the casino was a specific target of the plot.

Following January’s attacks in Jakarta, Hong Kong-based risk consultancy Steve Vickers and Associates released a threat assessmentthat suggested terrorists might be considering a “spectacular attack on a soft target such as a mall in Australia or a casino in Macau.”

The Vickers report suggested that Macau’s gaming sector offered a “nexus of Chinese, American and Jewish interests” that a terror group would find particularly appealing. Adelson and Wynn Resorts’ chairman Steve Wynn are both Jewish.

http://calvinayre.com/2016/08/05/casino/marina-bay-sands-dodges-terror-attack/

Sands ends speculation on Bethlehem Sands

Sands ends speculation on Pennsylvania casino sale, plans investment, taps executive

By HOWARD STUTZ
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Las Vegas Sands Corp. ended speculation Friday that it was looking to sell its Pennsylvania casino, saying the company plans further financial investment into the property, while naming a former Atlantic City casino executive to head the resort.

In a statement, Las Vegas Sands named Mark Juliano as president of Sands Bethlehem, replacing the property’s original president who left the casino last month for a job with Wynn Resorts Ltd.

Juliano, who had been the senior vice president of the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, previously served as CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City  [that was insolvent at its inception] and president of Caesars Atlantic City. Juliano also served as president of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas during his career.

In addition, Las Vegas Sands said it was “working on a variety of concepts” in which the company would further invest in Sands Bethlehem.

Media reports last month said the property, which is on the historic site of the former Bethlehem Steel Mill, was being sold to Tropicana Entertainment, a company controlled by financier Carl Icahn.

“Many of our people have been with us at Sands Bethlehem since the first day the doors opened and they have had to endure some trying events in recent months, including waves of media speculation about the future of the property,” Las Vegas Sands President Michael Leven said in a statement.

“Today, that speculation stops, and a new chapter in the history of Sands Bethlehem begins.”

The hotel-casino is small part of the overall Las Vegas Sands picture — the property contributed $117.2 million to the company’s overall first quarter net revenue of $4.01 billion. Still, it’s routinely among one of the top two revenue producing casinos in Pennsylvania.


http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/sands-ends-speculation-pennsylvania-casino-sale-plans-investment-taps

Former Singapore corruption bureau head jailed 10 years

Former Singapore corruption bureau head jailed 10 years
February 21, 2014



Assistant director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau Edwin Yeo, who was charged in July with 21 offences including misappropriation and forgery, arriving at the Subordinate court on Feb 20, 2014. —


SINGAPORE, Feb 21 — He made 372 trips to the casinos over two-and-a-half years, losing at least S$478,583 (RM1.2 million) at Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands between April 2010 and September 2012.

From 2008 to 2012, he lost S$263,699 through betting with Singapore Pools.

To fuel his gambling habit, former Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) Assistant Director Edwin Yeo Seow Hiong misappropriated funds issued to the branch he headed within the bureau.

Details of how he did so emerged yesterday as Yeo, 39, pleaded guilty to three charges of criminal breach of trust and one charge of forgery. He had faced 21 charges, but one charge of criminal breach of trust was dropped and 16 others taken into consideration as District Judge Ng Peng Hong sentenced Yeo to 10 years’ jail for his offences.

Yeo’s case had led to an independent review, which concluded that supervisory lapses had led to a lack of financial controls at the bureau. A new director was appointed in a move to rebuild public trust in the unit, while the two directors who were at the helm when the supervisory lapses occurred were issued warning letters.

The government also tightened rules governing public servants’ visits to casinos, including getting those who frequent the gaming tables to declare how often they make such trips or if they buy annual visit passes. Yeo, who is married with a five-year-old son, was head of the CPIB’s Field Research and Technical Support (FRTS). His illegal actions came to light in September 2012 when the CPIB received information that payment for certain operational expenses incurred by his branch were overdue.

On Oct 18 that year, the bureau lodged a report with the Commercial Affairs Department that Yeo had embezzled money.

The court heard yesterday that for each sum of money Yeo misappropriated, he would cover up the missing funds using the next sum of cash available. This was because the earlier funds had been spent on his personal debts and expenses. He also asked his staff to negotiate with vendors for delayed payment of sums owed to them.

For one of the charges, Yeo had gone against the management’s instruction to have two people authorising transactions for an FRTS bank account. He applied for Internet banking facilities, which allowed online transactions to be carried out using a single Internet banking token, and transferred S$470,265 from the account into his personal account between May and August 2012.

On the forgery charge, he edited a voucher documenting payment to trick CPIB Assistant Director of Administration and Support Sze Chinyu into thinking payment had been made to an equipment supplier. In total, Yeo misappropriated S$1.76 million, of which S$1.64 million has not been repaid.

District Judge Ng said retribution and deterrence must be considered in sentencing Yeo, whose actions impacted public confidence in the integrity of the public service.

Only a small fraction of the money has been recovered and his misdeeds took place over a substantial period of time — between April 2009 and August 2012.

The judge agreed with prosecutors that this was a case of “egregious abuse of position and trust”, and noted that “the offences were well-planned and hard to detect”.

“The Court has to signal the society’s moral opprobrium over his offences and deter any like-minded offenders,” District Judge Ng said. He felt the focus ought to be on the aggregate sentence imposed and not the length of individual sentences, as was highlighted in the case of two former Singapore Land Authority employees who had also defrauded their employer of significant sums of money.

In the SLA case, Koh Seah Wee and Lim Chai Meng received jail terms of 22 years and 15 years, respectively, for defrauding the agency of more than S$12 million. Defence lawyer Tan Hee Joek, who had said in mitigation that his client had received prestigious awards in his 15 years with the CPIB and never took a single day of medical leave, said Yeo was unlikely to appeal.

The CPIB said that based on yesterday’s conviction, it would be initiating civil service disciplinary proceedings against Yeo, who has been suspended from duties and interdicted since Sept 15 last year.

Yeo would most likely be terminated from the service and thereby lose his superannuation benefits, estimated to be worth about S$100,000.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/former-singapore-corruption-bureau-head-jailed-10-years

How to stop casino violations.....

You'll never see fines this hefty in the U.S. bacause government gets in bed with the Casino Operators, yet this reveals the SOLUTION to Casino Violations.....HEFTY FINES!


Casinos fined over $500k for social safeguard breaches

Grace Chua

The Straits Times

Saturday, Nov 16, 2013

SINGAPORE - The two casinos have been fined more than $500,000 for failing to adhere to measures intended to protect the vulnerable from gambling, it was revealed on Wednesday.

The breaches, which took place last year between May and December, included failing to stop Singapore citizens and permanent residents from getting in without paying a $100 entry levy, letting in those who had been banned, and allowing minors under 21 to enter.

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) was made to pay $337,500 after it allowed in 12 people without valid entry levies, and 16 on exclusion orders.

It also allowed five others to remain in its casino after their entry levy lapsed after 24 hours.

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), meanwhile, was fined $190,000 for letting in 12 people without valid levies, five with exclusion orders and five foreign minors. It also allowed one person to stay on after his levy expired.

The Casino Regulatory Authority said in a statement that it takes a "serious view" of these lapses.
But it also acknowledged the operators' efforts to comply with rules.

These included conducting more thorough checks at entrances, detecting when levies were about to expire, and improving the hardware such as gated entry gantries.

Since they opened in 2010, MBS and RWS, which had their licences renewed for a further three years this year, have collectively been fined nearly $2 million under the Casino Control Act for breaches of such social safeguard measures.

http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/casinos-fined-over-500k-social-safeguard-breaches


 

Casino owner Sheldon Adelson hit with $70-million verdict

Casino owner Sheldon Adelson hit with $70-million verdict

Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson testifies in a Las Vegas courtroom in April in a lawsuit filed by a former consultant. On Tuesday a jury awarded the consultant $70 million. (Julie Jacobson / AP / May 9, 2013)

 

By John M. GlionnaThis post has been corrected and updated, as indicated below.

May 14, 2013, 5:55 p.m.

LAS VEGAS – A Hong Kong businessman hit a $70-million court-awarded jackpot Tuesday when a jury agreed that he had helped the casino empire run by billionaire Sheldon Adelson get a gambling foothold in China.

This is the second time in five years that jurors have awarded consultant Richard Suen a sizable sum in the bitter dispute. A jury's 2008 finding for Suen was thrown out on appeal. Adelson's lawyers vowed Tuesday to appeal the latest verdict.

Suen claimed he was owed $328 million for lobbying mainland Chinese officials to grant the Las Vegas Sands Corp. a lucrative gambling license in Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.

Throughout the month-long trial, Adelson’s attorneys argued that Suen had not had effect on the company’s efforts to secure the license and was owed nothing because, despite his promises, he did nothing concrete to aid company executives.

The trial included testimony in April from Adelson, a reclusive tycoon whose worth reportedly exceeds $26 billion. The stalwart Republican and defender of Israel, along with his wife, donated nearly $100 million to GOP candidates in last year’s elections.

On the stand, the 79-year-old chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands cracked one-liners and told tales of his childhood: "I could have been a rags to riches story. But my parents couldn't afford the rags." His banter often made the jurors smile. He attended court last week for closing arguments but was absent from Tuesday's verdict.

After filing his initial lawsuit in 2004, Suen was awarded $58.6 million in 2008. The Nevada Supreme Court overturned that verdict, ruling that hearsay statements had been allowed into evidence during the trial.

This time, Suen asked for more than the amount of the earlier award because of Sands' extraordinary success in Macao.

Las Vegas Sands, which operates the Venetian and the Palazzo here on The Strip, has opened four resorts in Macao's Cotai Strip area, and now makes about 60% of its profits in the former Portuguese colony.

The jury deliberated for less than two days before reaching a unanimous verdict, but the nearly decade-long battle probably isn’t over.

Moments after the jurors returned with their verdict, Sands attorney J. Stephen Peek asked Clark County District Judge Rob Bare for a retrial, claiming that a juror had revealed to another man on the panel that she was prejudiced against Adelson.

Bare said Sands lawyers could have made the objection earlier.

Ron Reese, a spokesman for the company, later told reporters the war isn’t over yet.

“We believe there are compelling and sufficient grounds on which to appeal this verdict, and we will do so aggressively,” he said.

[Updated, 5:29 p.m., May 14: John O’Malley, the lead attorney on Suen’s legal team, said he was pleased with the verdict and that the businessman would join his lawyers Tuesday night for a celebration dinner.

O’Malley said he hopes he doesn’t have to go to trial a third time.

“Sheldon Adelson has unlimited resources by any definition of the term and he can keep this going until the state Supreme Court sustains the verdict,” he said. "I think the court will do so this time and that Sheldon Adelson will finally have to pay his bill.”]

[For the record, 5:54 p.m., May 14: An earlier version of this post omitted the first name of Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen and gave Sheldon Adelson's age as 78. Adelson is 79. It also incorrectly stated that Suen asked for more than three times the amount of the earlier award because of Sands' extraordinary success in Macao. The earlier post also omitted Sands attorney J. Stephen Peek's first initial.]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-sheldon-adelson-sands-verdict-20130514,0,7451332.story

Preying on others

Earning his gazillions by preying on others, in addition to generously funding first Newt Gingrich, the thrice married family values hypocrite, the supercilious Mitt, covertly contributing to Super PACs and other extremist causes, the gazillionaire provided a pittance of his wealth to medical research.

Interesting revelations ----  

Sheldon Adelson's anti-cancer campaign

Nation's top super PAC donor also quietly funneling millions to medical research
By Dave Levinthal

May 9, 2013

As casino mogul Sheldon Adelson buoyed Republican politicians with unprecedented riches, he quietly funded warfare on a decidedly apolitical enemy: cancer.

Adelson and his wife personally fueled their little-known private foundation — The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation — with about $4.3 million during 2011, according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation in turn disseminated most of the money to more than a dozen hospitals, laboratories and universities for medical research into cancer, as well as inflammatory bowel disease and neural repair and rehabilitation, IRS documents indicate.

Donation recipients in 2011 include The Rockefeller University in New York ($500,000), Tel Aviv University in Israel ($457,608), Harvard Medical School ($280,328), the UCLA Foundation ($280,000) and Johns Hopkins University ($200,000).

Such money is a fraction of the more than $93 million the Adelsons bestowed on pro-Republican super PACs during 2011 and 2012, ahead of last year's national elections. Nearly half of that amount went to a pair of conservative powerhouses: American Crossroads, the super PAC co-founded by Karl Rove received $23 million, while pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future took in $20 million.

But Adelson's medically focused giving further illuminates the complex and diverse donation habits of the nation's top super PAC patron, whose Las Vegas Sands gambling empire has made him one of the world's most wealthy individuals.

Consider that the Adelsons also operate a much larger, separate nonprofit foundation, the Adelson Family Foundation, that's contributed $191 million to primarily pro-Israel and Jewish cultural, educational and research organizations. Most went to Birthright Israel, a charity that offers free 10-day trips to Israel to Jews between age 18 and 26.

Yet another Adelson-led 501(c)(3) charitable foundation, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Institute, funds an "extensive secular and Judaic studies curriculum" for school-aged children at the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus in Las Vegas.

The educational foundation's latest filing with the IRS shows it raised more than $8 million from July 2011 to June 2012, although it doesn't state where the money came from. The organization reported more than $48 million in assets but more than $49 million in liabilities, leaving it about $800,000 in the red through last June, according to its IRS filing.

Meanwhile, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Charitable Trust, which is also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, had nearly $80 million in assets through the end of 2011, IRS filings show. Most of the more than $19.4 million it spent that year went to other Adelson-controlled foundations.

But the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Charitable Trust did report giving $500,000 in 2011 to the George W. Bush Foundation, which funded the design and construction of the newly opened George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum near Dallas.

The Las Vegas-based Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment & Research Inc., likewise organized as a nonprofit charity, reported about $133,000 in net assets through the end of 2011, IRS records show.

Funding Drug Abuse Research while earning his fortune creating Gambling Addiction?




As for the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, it's taken in about $58.9 million — mostly from the Adelsons themselves — from its formation in mid-2006 through the end of 2011. It spent about $58.5 million during the same time period, according to IRS records.

After spending more than $24.4 million in 2007, the research foundation's giving has waned, dropping to $4.2 million in 2010 before inching up in 2011.

Sheldon Adelson's office in Las Vegas directed questions to Kenneth Fasman, the foundation's chief science officer, who declined to comment on the Massachusetts-based foundation's work and finances during 2012 and 2013.

"The Adelsons prefer a relatively low profile in this area," Fasman said.

The foundation's website offers some general details on its purpose and mission.

"Instead of funding individual experiments that cautiously advance progress, we ask investigators who receive funding to interact with peers at many institutions within the context of creative and risk-taking approaches that may yield much more than the incremental progress engendered by many funding organizations," it states.

Primary Source

Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. It augments the investigative journalism of the Center for Public Integrity’s Consider the Source project. It features original, entrepreneurial reporting by Center staff, as well as examinations of primary source documents. Send tips to tips@publicintegrity.org.

Stories in this series

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/05/09/12638/sheldon-adelsons-anti-cancer-campaign?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=watchdog&utm_medium=publici-email

Sands denies Beijing gave help on Macau casino license application

Firm controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson rebuts claims leadership smoothed licence deal
Sunday, 12 May, 2013

Sheldon Adelson

A lawyer for Las Vegas Sands Corporation said the Chinese government had no part in the awarding of gaming licences in Macau for the casino operator controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson more than 10 years ago.

The attorney, Richard Sauber, told a Las Vegas jury on Friday that it was "inconceivable" that Chinese leaders violated the Basic Law - which guarantees Macau autonomy in its internal affairs - and "reached down" to make sure Las Vegas Sands got a gaming licence.

Sauber made his closing arguments in the trial of a suit in which Richard Suen, a Hong Kong businessman, has sought US$328 million in damages over claims that the company did not honour a promise to pay him for his help with licensing.

Suen claims that meetings he arranged for Adelson with Chinese officials in 2001 were instrumental in Las Vegas Sands' selection by Macau in 2002 as one of the companies that could operate casinos in the former Portuguese colony.

"I'm not sure what Mr Suen's claim is," Sauber told the jury at the end of the five-week trial in Nevada state court.

"I'm not sure how this meeting did what he signed up to do, deliver a licence."

Suen, 60, claims the meetings he and his associates arranged with Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen , and Beijing Mayor Liu Qi , created the goodwill that led Edmund Ho, the Macau chief executive, to make his decision.

Suen's lawyers made their closing arguments earlier.

Sauber said the vice-premier, one of the principal authors of the Basic Law, would not have violated it and undermined chief goals of Chinese policy based on a 40-minute meeting with the Sands boss.

"China has left Hong Kong alone," he said. "China has left Macau to make its own decisions."

Las Vegas Sands gets about 58 percent of its annual revenue from its Macau business.

Suen's lawyer John O'Malley told jurors on May 9 that his client, a friend of Adelson's younger brother Lenny Adelson, alerted the Sands chairman in 2000 to the possibility that the Macau government would end the gambling monopoly held by Stanley Ho and award concessions to foreign casino operators.

"The true story is that Mr. Suen got them that licence," he said yesterday.

This article first appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition on May 12, 2013 as Casino operator denies Beijing gave licence aid

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1235709/sands-denies-beijing-gave-help-macau-casino-license-application

Genting Singapore misses profit estimate

Genting Singapore misses profit estimate as gamblers get lucky

Reuters – Thu, May 2, 2013

SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Casino operator Genting Singapore PLC's core earnings fell 35 percent and missed market estimates as premium gamblers got lucky and won more of their bets.

"Compared to the first quarter of 2012, the first quarter's performance was largely affected by a much weaker win percentage in the premium players' business despite a significant increase in the premium players' rolling volume," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Three years after Singapore allowed casinos to open, Genting Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa and Las Vegas Sands' Marina Bay Sands have become the world's most profitable but analysts are concerned about a rise in debts from Chinese high-rollers.

Genting Singapore's January-March adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to S$249.7 million ($202.5 million) from S$381.4 million a year ago.

Five analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected a profit of S$359 million by the casino operator, which is more than half owned by Malaysia's Genting Bhd.

For the company statement, click:

On Wednesday, Sands reported strong quarterly results, powered by its Macau and Singapore operations.

Genting Singapore has shown keen interest in opening a casino in Japan and said it is interested in significant regional deals. ($1 = 1.0000 US dollars) ($1 = 1.2333 Singapore dollars) (Reporting by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

http://news.yahoo.com/genting-singapore-misses-profit-estimate-095230244.html

Banning Gambling Addicted Patrons

More locals, foreigners banned from MBS, Genting casinos





More than 15,600 were issued third-party exclusion orders for the 10 months leading to March, taking the total to 43,519, about 11/2 times the 27,882 at the end of May last year.

The Straits Times
Saturday, May 04, 2013

SINGAPORE - The increase came largely as a result of some 15,000 people being banned by the Government because they were receiving financial aid from the Ministry of Social and Family Development's (MSF) ComCare, or had defaulted on the Housing Board's rental payments.

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20130504-420295.html