William Weidner’s Global Gaming Asset Management claims Philippines casino owner Enrique Razon illegally terminated an agreement with the company to operate Razon’s Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila and is suing the tycoon in the U.S.
The suit, filed in federal court in New York by a Philippines subsidiary of GGAM, seeks to compel Razon to make good on US$296.6 million awarded to GGAM in the dispute by an international arbitration panel in Singapore.
GGAM claims Razon, a shipping magnate with holdings throughout the island nation, solicited its services in 2011 to help develop and run Solaire. He then terminated the agreement six months after the resort opened in 2013 as the first of four casinos licensed by the Philippines government to anchor a special district in the capital known as Entertainment City.
The arbitration panel ruled that Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts, Solaire’s Philippines-listed owner, was “not justified” in terminating the agreement.
The tribunal also affirmed GGAM’s ownership of and right to sell its 921 million Bloomberry shares.
Both rulings were affirmed earlier this year by the Singapore Court of Appeals.
In its U.S. lawsuit, GGAM alleges that Razon has avoided paying the award by hiding large sums of money in shell companies in the U.S. and has taken other actions to stop GGAM from collecting, including working to prevent the company from selling its Bloomberry shares.
Weidner, together with GGAM co-founder Brad Stone, are best-known for their long tenures as top executives with Las Vegas Sands, credited with guiding the development of the company’s Las Vegas Strip resorts and its entry into Macau.
The pair resigned in 2009 and founded Las Vegas-based GGAM in partnership with financial services giant Cantor Fitzgerald to invest in and develop gaming projects around the world.
