Las Vegas Sands Settles SEC Charges for $9 Million
April 07 2016 - 2:32PM
Dow Jones News
By Lisa Beilfuss
Las Vegas Sands Corp. agreed to pay $9 million to settle charges
that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, putting an end
to a five-year investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
In the agreement, Las Vegas Sands neither admitted nor denied
any of the SEC's findings.
The SEC alleged that the hotel and casino operator didn't
properly authorize or document millions of dollars in payments to a
consultant facilitating business activities in China and Macao. The
agency accused Las Vegas Sands of keeping inaccurate records and
lacking documentation for roughly $62 million in payments to the
unnamed consultant.
The consultant -- internally referred to as a "beard" -- acted
as an intermediary to obscure the company's role in certain
business transactions, such as the purchases of a basketball team
and a building in China, where casino gambling and team ownership
by a casino isn't permitted, according to the SEC.
Las Vegas Sands said Thursday that the projects in question were
orchestrated through a consultant whose activities under a former
company president and other former employees weren't sufficiently
monitored.
"We are pleased to have the matter resolved," Chief Executive
Sheldon Adelson said. "We will build on this experience," he said,
adding that the company "started corrective action on this
particular matter prior to the initiation of the government
investigations."
In addition to the $9 million civil penalty, the company has
agreed to retain an independent compliance consultant for two
years.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 07, 2016 14:17 ET (18:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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