Former gaming junket boss Levo Chan Weng Lin has been sentenced by Macau's Court of First Instance (TJB) to 14 years behind bars for organised crime and illegal gambling operations, fraud and money laundering, according to a statement by the office of the president of the Court of Final Appeal (TUI).
Among Chan's eight co-defendants, four were handed down prison terms ranging between seven and 11 years for a range of crimes such as organised crime and illegal gambling operations as well as fraud, while four were acquitted, the statement said.
Chan chaired Tak Chun Group, previously Macau's second biggest junket operator. He was taken into pre-trial detention in January last year.
The defendants were also ordered to pay the local government HK$575.2 million in unpaid taxes and "civil indemnities" totalling about HK$204 million to five of Macau's six gaming concessionaires (MGM, Wynn, Venetian, Galaxy, SJM)
Chan is Macau's second junket mogul to end up behind bars. Alvan Chau Cheok Wa, who had headed Suncity Group, was sentenced to a prison term of 18 years in January for similar charges. Suncity was reportedly Macau's biggest junket operator.
According to both trials, Chan and Chau ran unauthorised side betting operations in casino VIP rooms on a large scale for years.
