The Trial of Junket King Alvin Chau Begins
One of the biggest trials in Macau history has begun today, as the Chinese authorities bring a string of charges including money-laundering and fraud against the former Suncity boss. The charges each carry long sentences, so if convicted Alvin Chau could spend decades behind bars. The crackdown against junket operators initiated last year saw swathes of companies swept away, as the structure of the Macau gambling industry and its dependence on the free-flow of foreign capital was exposed. China prohibits the use of its currency in gambling, and has laws against capital-flight, a rule that SunCity sold workarounds for to its expansive client list.
The city of Macao – once the playground of billionaire junket kingpins, has since become the full focus of a government crackdown. Alvin Chau, the man behind one of the largest gambling money-laundering operations ever committed, is facing over 200 criminal counts as the trial into his endeavours begins. ©8268513/Pixabay
The spill over from the Suncity meltdown has not been contained to the boundaries of the company in question, many other executives have been dragged into the mess. According to investigators the whole operation ran so efficiently that it was able to cheat the world’s largest gambling hub out of over $1 billion in taxes. The string of arrests related to the case have been put together by police as a means to expose the network for what it was. The accused men have helped Chau in business dealings around Asia, and are accused of assisting in the vast criminal empire that was built on junkets.
Chau, as an individual is facing 286 criminal counts. The narrative being purported by the prosecutor is that Chau and his associates was able to craft the illusion that Suncity was a highly organized operation that made legitimate business dealings. Of course, at the centre of everything was an elaborate and complex string of money-laundering processes, all for the purpose of enabling gambling fraud.
The crime syndicate allegedly ran proxy punts through a network of gambling websites, and targeted the biggest operators in the city with their fraud. The indictment against them includes the estimation that Chau and his associates caused the biggest casinos in the city to lose out on as much as $2.1 billion between 2013 and 2019. The casinos have not forgotten about these lost earnings, and in a parallel case are attempting to recoup the lost funds.
The Future of Junket Operators in Post Alvin Chau Macau
The Macau junket gambling business has all but collapsed since Alvin Chau’s arrest. All of the casinos operating throughout the city have closed down the VIP rooms that they once had on premises as a means of attracting the high rollers into their venues. Many of the entrepreneurs that were once operating in the space have left the business, and in general, the industry has undergone a major upheaval with very few of the original aspects surviving the purge.
Tak Chun Group’s Levo Chan, Macao’s second largest junket leader, was apprehended in January on allegations of illicit gambling and financial fraud. Since then, the number of VIP rooms in the city’s 41 casinos has shrunk. According to analysts, Macao’s junkets are unlikely to return to their prime as Beijing strengthens laws in a larger assault on the city’s gambling sector, which took over the global gambling hub title from Las Vegas in the year marking the beginning of the scandal.
After being detained in December, Chau resigned as president of the Hong Kong-listed Suncity, which has separated company from its creator, claiming that its junket operation was run by a different Macao controlled by the accused CEO. Suncity was recently renamed LET Group Holdings. Chau, nicknamed the junket king, was formerly regarded as a cornerstone of the city, sponsoring a slew of important events such as an international film festival and the yearly Macao Grand Prix. He gave to humanitarian organizations and worked on the parliamentary advisory committee of Guangdong province.
