Tweet Bitcoin’s disruptive technology will force banks to change and adapt but some issues identified including regulatory arbitrage and consumer protection The Board of Governors for the US Federal Reserve published minutes of their recent meeting on a wide-range of economic issues, including Bitcoin. Positive Aspects The Board noted several important and positive aspects of Bitcoin, namely: Bitcoin will […]
Tweet Money laundering For junket operators Bloomberg has a great story on the rise and fall of Carson Yeung Ka-shing, the Hong Kong businessman and owner of the Birmingham City football club, convicted earlier this week of laundering $93 million through, inter alia, junket operators and casinos in Macau. Mr. Yeung was arrested in June […]
Tweet Money laundering is more prevalent than elsewhere According to a recent survey of business people who operate and do business in Hong Kong and Macau, money laundering is a huge problem and in fact, is more prevalent there than anywhere else in the world. The results of the survey which were reported in South China […]
Tweet 2013 Corruption Index According to Transparency International‘s newly published 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index, the new top ten corrupt nations are Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Syria. The ten least corrupt are Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Luxembourg. The results are based […]
Tweet Increased pressure on Macau’s casinos Macau is facing a delicate balancing act – how to satisfy mounting international demands to crack down on money laundering and other criminal activities in its $38 billion gambling industry, without killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Finding a way of regulating the junket operators, which bring […]
Tweet This article was originally published in Asia Gambling Brief. Macau junket operators of casino VIP rooms working on image Some of Macau’s biggest junket operators — also known as VIP gambling promoters — are planning to exhibit at next month’s Macau Gaming Show in a sign this integral part of the local gaming scene […]
Tweet 2013 Annual Report In its 2013 Annual Report, a U.S. Congressional Executive Commission has urged Macau to develop law enforcement mechanisms to combat money laundering at its casinos. The Congressional members found that the gambling industry in Macau was reportedly tied to widespread corruption and the laundering of large amounts of money out of […]
Tweet Junkets branching out According to this article by Reuters, traditional junket operators (also known as VIP gaming promoters) in Macau are branching out to diversify their businesses and improve their reputation. The largest junket operator, Suncity Group, is planning to open its own casino and has expanded into mining and iron ore operations in […]
Tweet Canadian funds carried by money mule to China The Court of Appeal for Hong Kong has upheld the money laundering conviction of a woman who acted as a money mule to China, and increased her sentence to two years. The decision, HKSAR v. Ngai Fund Sin Apple is one of a series of criminal […]
Tweet According to a report published in China by the Central Bank (that has since been removed from the Bank of China’s website) and reported by the BBC, close to 20,000 public officials in China have collectively removed about US$120 billion from China and transferred it to just 4 countries –> Canada, the US, Australia […]