Macau court orders embezzler to repay junket

A Macau court has ordered a former employee of a local junket operator to repay nearly $13m in stolen funds.

On Monday, Macau’s Court of First Instance released a notice ordering Chao Ioc Mei, a former cage manager of VIP gaming promoter Dore Entertainment Co Ltd, to repay MOP 103m (US $12.9m) in funds she allegedly stole from Dore last year. The ruling stated that Chao’s whereabouts remain unknown.

In September 2015, word broke that a Dore-run VIP room at Wynn Macau had been hit by a massive internal theft, the value of which was originally pegged at HKD 2b ($258m). Subsequent reports downgraded the stolen sum to around HKD700m owed to 70-odd investors, many of whom had been offered higher than usual interest rates on their deposits by Chao without Dore’s knowledge.

Regardless of the amount, the theft – coming one year after an even larger theft from the Kimren Group junket – prompted other junket investors to request the withdrawal their funds, increasing the downward pressure on Macau’s already struggling junket industry.