Operator News
Japan – Universal Entertainment takes action against its Founder Kazuo Okada
By Phil - 12 June 2017
Universal Entertainment, the Philippine casino operator and Tokyo-based slots and pachinko manufacturer, has suspended its own CEO and Founder Kazuo Okada, pending an investigation in suspected fraudulent activity.
The company has launched ‘a special investigation committee consisting of external experts’ to investigate a suspicious $17.3m transaction that Okada made to a company he controls.
Universal said it was investigating ‘a serious violation of governance’ and the ‘possibility that fraudulent acts were carried out’ including the transfer of around HK$135m on 20 March 2015 from Universal subsidiary Tiger Resort Asia to a company controlled by Mr Okada, Okada Holdings for ‘personal benefit for Chairman Okada.’
The statement said: “Following this, the company has decided to establish a special investigation committee consisting of three external experts who have cooperated with the Company in conducting the investigation by the in-house investigation team as explained above. The aim of the special investigation committee is to conduct a thorough investigation from a professional and objective viewpoint on the present case including the presence or absence of other issues, to clarify the whole picture and to formulate measures to prevent reoccurrence.”
Okada, aged 73, is one of the richest men in Japan and a former major stakeholder in Wynn Resorts, with whom he had a major litigious fallout dating back to 2012.He is believed to have invested $455m to help fund Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Macau, in return for a 20 per cent stake in Wynn Resorts. He was kicked out as a director of Wynn Resorts in 2012 though on the suspicion that he bribed Philippine gaming authorities to secure a license for a property that eventually became the Okada Manila.
Wynn took legal action against Okada who then sued him back for defamation. Those lawsuits are ongoing in a Las Vegas court.
