Last April, former Tak Chun Group Chairman Levo Chan was sentenced to 14 years in prison for fraud, organized crime, illegal gambling and aggravated money laundering. But following an appeal, on January 12 Macau’s Court of Second Instance reduced Chan’s sentence by 12 months and ruled that he and four co-defendants are no longer liable for damages to casino concessionaires in the city.
In 2023, following a three-month trial, the ex-junket kingpin was ordered to pay $25 million in damages to five of six Macau casino operators for losses they incurred due to the crimes—the total for Chan and codefendants came to $70.5 million, payable to Wynn Macau, Sands China, SJM Resorts, Galaxy Entertainment Group and MGM China.
While they’re now off the hook for those damages, they must pay approximately $310 million to the Macau government, reports GGRAsia.
The Chan case parallels that of former Suncity Group Chairman Alvin Chau, sentenced in January 2023 to 18 years behind bars for similar offenses. In October, fraud charges against Chau were also dropped, but the government penalties tripled to $3.2 billion. Chau’s sentence was unchanged.
