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US Court rules that Suen assisted LVS obtain license


The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that meetings with Chinese government officials helped Las Vegas Sands secure a casino concession in Macau, TDM reports.

However, the court overturned a $70 million judgement against Sands, which was brought by businessman Richard Suen, who claimed his efforts led to the operator ultimately obtaining its concession.

While the judges ruled that he had indeed helped Sands arrange meetings with Vice Premier Qian Qichen and Beijing mayor Liu Qi, they also felt that there was insufficient evidence to support the value of Suen’s services amounted to $70 million.

"After the parties met, Suen and his associates set up meetings in Beijing between Sheldon Adelson, Sands chairman and chief executive officer; William Weidner, Sands former president; and high-ranking officials from the PRC," the court said, adding that: " Weidner testified he wanted to meet Qian so he could capitalize on Suen's group's "guanxi" (connections) and obtain an advantage in the bidding process".

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