Australian businessman James Packer, who resigned from the board of Crown Resorts in March, last month also stepped down as director of the board of his private investment firm, Consolidated Press Holdings Pty, citing continuing treatment for mental health issues.
In a notice filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, CPH announced that Packer resigned on June 27. According to Bloomberg News, CPH owns about 46 percent of Packer’s Crown Resorts, a onetime global gaming operator that is now focusing on domestic operations due to legal troubles in China. In 2016, a number of Crown employees were arrested in Mainland China and jailed for almost a year. Around the same time, a high-profile romance with entertainer Mariah Carey went south.
The 50-year-old billionaire and son of late media magnate Kerry Packer has “endured a tumultuous few years,” Bloomberg reported, “from the public breakup of his engagement with pop diva Mariah Carey to the conviction of Crown employees in China in 2017 for illegally promoting gambling.”
Israeli news outlet Haaretz also linked Packer to a corruption scandal involving Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister and members of his family supposedly accepted gifts including concert tickets, hotel rooms and airplane flights from Packer, though all parties deny that the gifts were intended to curry favor.
Activist shareholder activist Stephen Mayne told ABC News that Packer “has withdrawn from all commercial interests, both public and private,” in order to receive treatment for depression, reportedly in the United States.
“For James Packer to resign from that board is a very significant matter and obviously comes after resigning from all public company boards,” he said. Packer is “offshore, he’s seeking help and clearly he’s putting all of his effort into his health.”
Packer’s interests “will still be looked after by trusted lieutenants,” including long-time associate Guy Jalland, chief executive of CPH and John Alexander, executive chairman of Crown Resorts.
