Universal Entertainment Chairman Kazuo Okada and his companies are being investigated in the United States for possible violations of anti-bribery laws in connection with the Japanese billionaire’s casino project in the Philippines.
In its first public acknowledgement that Mr Okada, Universal and Universal’s Nevada-based subsidiary Aruze USA are under criminal investigation, the US Justice Department has filed papers in Nevada state court seeking permission to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Wynn Resorts against Mr Okada. The department is seeking a temporary stay on discovery in the civil proceedings to allow for the criminal case to be developed.
Wynn would consent to the motion while Mr Okada would likely oppose it, according to the filing.
The federal case against Mr Okada, formerly a Wynn director and the company’s largest individual shareholder before his stock was forcibly redeemed last year, concerns possible violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. At the center of the investigation are US$40 million in payments which, according to Reuters reports, Universal made to a close associate of the former head of the Philippine gaming authority.
For more than a year, Mr Okada has been locked in a legal battle with Wynn over mutual allegations of illegal conduct. Mr Okada has said he was removed from the company for opposing a 2011 Wynn endowment to the University of Macau. Wynn says Mr Okada’s dealings in the Philippines put the company at legal risk and breached his fiduciary duties as a director.
The Justice Department noted in the Nevada filing that it is also conducting a criminal investigation into the University of Macau donation.
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