High-Profile Fugitives Laundered Millions of Dollars at LVS Properties

Years ago, fraudsters stole some $4.5 billion from Malaysia Development Berhad, an insolvent Malaysian strategic development company. An investigator in Singapore now believes that some of the money has been siphoned to Las Vegas Sands properties via a shell company.

The Largest Kleptocracy Case to Date

Described as one of the world’s greatest financial scandals in history, the so-called 1MDB scandal was described in 2016 by the US DOJ as the largest kleptocracy case to date. As mentioned, it saw billions of dollars embezzled through systematic fraud.

Some of the money is believed to have been channeled into the personal bank account of ex-Malay PM Najib Razak. Razak was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison. According to a recent claim by an investigator, another $13 million has been siphoned to Las Vegas Sands through a shell company.

The investigator elaborated that the money was then used by Jho Low, the alleged mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal, for high-stakes gambling. His associate, Eric Tan Kim Loong, also took part in the gambling, experts believe.

The two men are currently fugitives believed to be hiding in China.

This isn’t the first time someone has claimed that Low gambled big in Vegas. Two years ago, a marketing executive at The Venetian claimed that the fugitive had wagered a whopping $87 million on baccarat tables at the VIP section.

$13M Was Laundered Through LVS

According to investigator Richard Templeman, a total of $13 million was siphoned to Las Vegas Sands through a shell company called Alsen Chance. He insisted that the latter entity existed with the sole goal of laundering the embezzled funds.

Low himself got $11 million of the money transferred to LVS. Templeman noted that the rest was sent to Loong. Several days after the transfers, LVS credited $7.35 million and $1.3 million back to Jho Low and Tan Kim Loong.