Millions to be paid in installments
Jack Lam, the Macau junket investor at the center of last year’s raids on illegal online casinos in the Philippines, has sold off his share of the Hong Kong-listed junket operator Jimei International Entertainment Group Ltd.
According to GGRAsia, the deal that closed April 7 involved a maximum consideration of HKD443.2 million (US$57.0 million). One half of that amount has already been paid, and the second half will be settled in January 2018, with adjustments to be made if Jimei International “is unable to recover part of its outstanding receivables,” estimated to be at HK$227 million at the end of 2017.
The seller was identified in a filing as a Lam company called Reach Luck International Ltd. The buyer is Cosmic Leader Holdings Ltd., recently incorporated in the Seychelles and owned by Yan Xu and Chen Hong, who own 80 percent and 20 percent of the firm respectively. Yan is said to be a property developer in China with “extensive experience in the entertainment business through investment in various companies and financing films.” Chen has been described as an “experienced investor” in Chinese technology and telecommunication sectors.
The Jimei Group once operated Lam’s Fontana Casino in the Philippines’ Clark Freeport Zone and Fort Ilocandia Hotel and Casino in Laoag City. After the raids in 2016, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the seizure of Lam’s gaming assets, saying he had failed to pay his full share of taxes.
Duterte also ordered Lam to be arrested for alleged bribery and “economic sabotage.” The arrest order was issued after more than 1,300 illegal Chinese workers were detained at Lam properties in the Philippines.
But last month, a Philippine Senate committee determined that Lam was a victim of extortion by officials from the country’s Bureau of Immigration and did not attempt to bribe them. Lam fled the country shortly after the arrests and has kept a low profile ever since. Duterte later said he could resume his local gaming operations if he paid the necessary fines and back taxes, a sum totaling PHP13.9 billion (US$276 million).
The Jimei Group currently runs junket operations at City of Dreams Macau and the Jimei Casino on the Macau peninsula under an SJM Holdings gaming license.
