\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i59.tinypic.com\/x6lxc0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\tBy FARAH MASTER
\n\tREUTERS
\n\tHONG KONG \u2014 A former Macau business partner of Las Vegas Sands Corp. accused the casino operator of misappropriating trade secrets and is suing the company for at least $5 billion in profits that it says are owed via their joint ownership of copyright related to a casino license bid.<\/p>\n
\tAsian American, headed by Taiwanese businessman Marshall Hao, filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Nevada on Wednesday. The case is in addition to two separate, ongoing legal actions in Macau over an alleged breach of contract.<\/p>\n
\tLas Vegas Sands, which is controled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and Asian American jointly submitted a bid for a gaming concession in 2002 in Macau, which has since become the world\u2019s largest gambling market. But during the process, Las Vegas Sands switched partners, teaming up instead with Hong Kong group Galaxy Entertainment .<\/p>\n
\tThe Sands-Galaxy combination went on to win a license in the former Portuguese colony over a decade ago, beating contenders that included MP Entertainment Co. Limited, MGM-Grand Macau Limited, and Macau Star Limited, a subsidiary of Malaysia\u2019s Genting Bhd.<\/p>\n
\tAsian American alleges in its latest filing that after Las Vegas Sands terminated its joint venture, the company submitted a near-identical replica of its previous submission with new partner Galaxy.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis is an action for money damages arising out of profits owed to plaintiff by LVSC for use and benefit of the work which ultimately led to the Las Vegas Sands enterprise securing a Macau concessions contract,\u201d the company said in the complaint.<\/p>\n
\tLas Vegas Sands, in a statement on Friday, denied the claims.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cUsing a different lawyer every time, AAEC (Asian American) has repeatedly filed lawsuits trying to take credit for that which they didn\u2019t do,\u201d Las Vegas Sands said in the statement. \u201cU.S. courts have consistently rejected those efforts. Las Vegas Sands will respond to this latest version of the same meritless lawsuit in court.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe case is the latest in a string of court cases that involve Las Vegas Sands\u2019 earlier dealings in Macau. Las Vegas Sands was ordered by a Clark County jury to pay more than $100 million to Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen last year, after he sued the company claiming it had failed to make good on a promise to pay him for helping it get permission to operate a Macau casino.<\/p>\n
\tThe case is on appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\tMacau, on China\u2019s southern coast, is the only part of the country where citizens are legally allowed to gamble in casinos. With $45 billion in revenue last year, seven times that of Las Vegas, it has proved a gold mine for operators.<\/p>\n
\tAsian American argues that Las Vegas Sands\u2019 record earnings were in large part due to its Macau resort and claims that Sands is guilty of disclosing information to Galaxy which was so sensitive that the parties \u201chired bodyguards\u201d to protect the documents.<\/p>\n
\tDetails included the cost of the project, its impact on Macau, construction of a Venetian-style resort casino and a partnership with Jerde Partnership International. Adelson\u2019s Macau unit, Sands China, is now the world\u2019s second largest gaming company by market capitalization, behind its Las Vegas parent.<\/p>\n
\tAsian American\u2019s Macau lawyer Jorge Menezes said the Nevada and Macau lawsuits have different causes of actions.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSuing in Nevada does not hinder the Macau lawsuit\u2019s progress,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/p>\n
\tAnother case plaguing Sands is a long-running legal tussle with former employee Steven Jacobs, who is suing for wrongful termination of his contract.<\/p>\n
\tInvestigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining whether Sands has violated federal anti-corruption laws.<\/p>\n
\tDespite the ongoing legal cases, Sands is building a new casino resort in Macau called the Parisian, a replica of the Eiffel Tower expected to open in the next two years.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By FARAH MASTER REUTERS HONG KONG \u2014 A former Macau business partner of Las Vegas Sands Corp. accused the casino operator of misappropriating trade secrets and is suing the company for at least $5 billion in profits that it says…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}