Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the Singapore casino owned by Las Vegas Sands, has hired law firm Davinder Singh Chambers to investigate the alleged transfers by employees of more than $1 billion of gamblers’ money to third parties, a media report has said.
According to Bloomberg, the review conducted by Davinder Singh Chambers adds to scrutiny of the casino by the U.S. Department of Justice and Singapore authorities after a patron sued the firm last year claiming that $9.1 million of his money was transferred to other gamblers without his knowledge. With both parties denying any wrongdoing, the lawsuit was settled out of court in June. The casino agreed to reimburse the full amount of the claim.
Following the settlement, the Casino Regulatory Authority in Singapore initiated a review of the casino’s internal procedures relating to third party money transfers. During a Hogan Lovells review covering the period from 2013 to 2017, more than 3,000 letters of authorisation were used to endorse about $1.4 billion worth of fund transfers from patrons to third parties, Bloomberg added.
In addition, the review revealed letters authorising transfers worth $365 million from multiple patrons bore signatures that appeared to be similar, facilitating numerous transfers.
Davinder Singh Chambers was set up in January last year by Davinder Singh SC, probably Singapore’s most celebrated litigator, who left Big Four firm Drew & Napier after 37 years.
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