Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc., operator of the Okada Manila integrated resort in the Philippines, has filed a two-count criminal complaint against the company’s former chairman and CEO, Japanese billionaire and gaming entrepreneur Kazuo Okada.
Tiger Resort made the complaint in Parañaque City in the Metro Manila area, according to the Philippine News Agency. Okada and an associate, former Tiger Resort president and COO Takahiro Usui, were both named in the complaint, which also includes allegations of perjury.
Tiger accused Okada of illegal disbursement of company funds amounting to more than US$3.1 million for alleged salaries and consultant fees when he was CEO. The company contends the payments “were not authorized, much less approved” by the firm’s board of directors. A second count of fraud related to the supply of LED fixtures to Okada Manila by Aruze Philippines Manufacturing Inc., a firm reportedly controlled by Okada.
Okada was removed as chairman of Tiger Resort in June 2017. Usui was also relieved of his position in the company during the meeting, according to the Philippine News Agency. Tiger Resort alleges that both men committed perjury in civil complaints challenging their ouster.
In December, Universal Entertainment Corp., the parent company of Tiger Resort, filed civil lawsuits in Hong Kong and Tokyo claiming that Okada’s alleged actions damaged the company he founded. The company said a HK$135 million (US$17 million) loan from Tiger Resort to an unnamed third party as subsequently transferred to Okada Holdings Ltd. to personally benefit Okada. He reportedly used the money to indulge his passion for art. The collector owns his own art museum in Tokyo.
Universal Entertainment also disclosed that a Korean subsidiary paid out $170,000 related to an $80 million loan taken out by Okada Holdings for a land transaction. During the same period, Okada allegedly made the subsidiary cover the interest on an $80 million loan taken out by his family-owned firm.
Okada has a history of suspected misdeeds. In 2012, he was deposed as director of U.S.-based Wynn Resorts following reports that he attempted to bribe Philippine gaming officials to win favors there. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking at a $40 million payment to a Manila-based consultant in 2010, to ascertain if it was part of a bribery scheme.
