The trial of former Tak Chun Group head Levo Chan will begin Monday, December 5, almost a year after he was jailed in Macau’s Coloane Prison.
Chan is accused of illegal gambling, money laundering, running a criminal syndicate and defrauding the Macau government and concessionaires, according to GGRAsia. The junket king was also charged with “betting under the table” over a six-year period, generating HK$34.9 billion (US$4.45 billion) along the way, and pocketing at least HK$1.5 billion (US$191 million) of that.
Chan’s arrest caused the Tak Chun Group to shut down its Macau enterprise, and also forced Chan to step down as chairman and CEO of Macau Legend Development in February, just a year after acquiring a one-third stake in the company. Macau Legend owns the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf precinct and operates the Legend Palace and Babylon casinos under the license of SJM Holdings.
Chan’s onetime peer in the junket business, former Suncity Group chairman Alvin Chau, goes to trial this week on similar charges. He purportedly converted turnover of HK$800 billion (US$102 billion) into more than HK$20 billion (US$2.5 billion) in revenue and also engaged in betting under the table.
Chan’s trial will take place at Macau’s Court of First Instance. Four of the city’s six casino concessionaires will seek civil damages as part of the trial.
