Richard Suen wins US$70m from Las Vegas Sands in Macau dispute
Jury in Las Vegas awards businessman from HK for help over 2002 licence bid
Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen Chi-tat has been awarded US$70 million by a jury in the United States for his help in obtaining a Macau casino licence for Las Vegas Sands more than a decade ago.
The jury in Nevada returned a verdict on Tuesday in the second trial over Suen's claim that meetings he helped arrange for Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Sands's chairman, with government officials in Beijing were instrumental in Sands getting permission to operate casinos in Macau.
In 2010, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed a US$43.8 million jury award to Suen.
After the latest verdict, Ron Reese, a spokesman for the casino company, said: "We believe there are compelling and sufficient grounds on which to appeal this verdict and we will do so aggressively."
Adelson, 79, claimed during his trial testimony that Suen, a friend of his younger brother Lenny Adelson, contributed nothing to the company's being selected by the Macau government. Lawyers for Sands argued that the Macau government made its decisions independently from the central government in Beijing, which is legally prohibited from intervening in Macau's internal affairs.
Suen, 60, testified during the trial that he first alerted Sheldon Adelson in 2000 to the possibility that Macau would end the gambling monopoly that casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun had enjoyed since 1962.