In a sobering development for former Suncity Group CEO Alvin Chau, at least two defendants in the criminal case against his Macau junket firm were jailed last month by a court in Zhejiang Province, Mainland China.
According to GGRAsia, one of them, Cheung Ning Ning, was sentenced to seven years and fined CNY800,000 (US$112,700) by the Wenzhou People’s Intermediate Court. Found guilty of “establishing a casino” and “illegal business operations,” she has no plans to appeal her conviction.
Thirty-three other defendants have already pleaded guilty to allegedly promoting “cross-border gambling,” including online betting and proxy betting, to people on the Chinese Mainland. Their sentences ranged from 15 months to seven years and six months. Fines imposed ranged from CNY50,000 to CNY3.0 million.
Chau reportedly told Cheung and defendant Peng Hao to “set up companies in the mainland” to receive “gambling capital and gambling debt of the cross-border gambling group.”
The court said Cheung “violated the country’s regulations in illegal foreign exchange transactions, and hence disturbed the financial market’s order.”
The gambling syndicate allegedly processed payments and transactions worth about RMB1.16 billion (US$163.5 million/MOP1.31 billion) over the years.
Chau is facing charges of illicit gambling activities, running a criminal syndicate, fraud and money laundering in a separate trial in Macau that began last month. He has been jailed in Macau’s Coloane Prison since the end of November 2021.
