Las Vegas Sands has agreed to pay a criminal penalty of almost US$7 million to settle a five-year investigation by the US Department of Justice into accusations the company violated anti-bribery laws when it hired a consultant to help with business dealings in China and Macau.
As reported by Reuters, Las Vegas Sands has not been charged with any crime, however the latest penalty comes on top of an earlier US$9 million civil settlement made nine months ago after the US Securities and Exchange Commission found that certain payments to the consultant had not been properly documented.
While a statement by authorities acknowledged that none of the associated Sands staff is still with the gaming giant, it admitted serious concerns about the way the issue was dealt with at the time.
“Certain Sands executives knowingly and willfully failed to … adequately ensure the legitimacy of payments” to the consultant, it said. Sands also, “continued to make payments to the consultant despite warnings from its finance staff and an outside auditor that the business consultant had failed to account for portions of these funds.”
