Money laundering probe at Fontainebleau mistakenly disclosed by Gaming Commission

Yahoo

7 days ago

(Photo byfor Fontainebleau Las Vegas)
An inadvertent leak at Thursday's Nevada Gaming Commission meeting revealed Fontainebleau, the newest resort on the Las Vegas Strip, is under investigation by gaming regulators.
Nevada Gaming Commissioner Rosa Solis Rainey asked Fontainebleau president Maurice Wooden about the investigation Thursday, catching the executive off guard as he sought licensing as a key employee.
'With respect to AML (anti-money laundering), tell me about the issues that are currently going on at the Fontainebleau with respect to credit issuance,' Solis-Rainey said to Wooden. 'Are you aware of those?'
'I'm not sure of any investigation as it relates to anything with AML. Is there something specific? I'm not sure,' Wooden responded.
'I think that is something that staff is currently further investigating, prior to any further action,' Gaming Control Board member Chandeni Sendall chimed in.
'It's not listed in our materials as confidential, by the way,' noted a visibly irked Gaming Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Togliatti.
'Is it confidential or not confidential?' Solis-Rainey inquired. 'We have in our materials that there's an investigation ongoing with respect to the credit practices not being followed.'
The issue, she said, involved ownership approving credit without proper approval from compliance executives. Fontainebleau is owned by Jeffrey Soffer. The $3.7 billion property opened in December 2023.
'If those processes happened, they were certainly before my time. I was, you know, not on property for what I believe some of the questions you're asking,' Wooden responded, adding he believes 'at least one or two of those issues did happen, almost like the opening week.'
Wooden is likely referring to a $2 million marker issued to gambler and illegal bookmaker Damien LeForbes, shortly after the resort's opening in December 2023, according to Robert Cipriani, a professional gambler who provided information to the federal government about money laundering at MGM Grand and Resorts World.
LeForbes and illegal sports bookie Mathew Bowyer have pleaded guilty to operating unlawful gambling businesses and to money laundering.
MGM Resorts entered into a non-prosection agreement with the government in early 2024 and paid a $7.45 million fine. Its former president, Scott Sibella, agreed to a plea deal for failing to comply with AML regulations. The feds have yet to take any action against Resorts World, where Sibella also served as president until his termination in September of 2023, and where Bowyer and LeForbes were permitted to gamble without known sources of funds.
The Gaming Commission fined Resorts World $10.5 million in March and imposed an $8.5 million fine against MGM in April.
Cipriani contends the investigation has expanded to a handful of other resorts, including Fontainebleau.
In early January 2024, weeks after Fontainebleau's opening, Cipriani tweeted the casino granted a $2 million marker to LeForbes, who eventually 'blew thru it all,' according to Cipriani.
'All the casinos that took DJ Leforbes' and Matt Bowyer's action are being investigated by GCB,' Cipriani said Friday.
No efforts have been made by Fontainebleau or Venetian, where the two also gambled, to recover the funds via the District Attorney's Office, according to court records.
Gaming Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick told Togliatti the information about the investigation, which was included in the Commission's back up documents, should have been marked confidential.
'I don't want to go any deeper into this matter until the board has an opportunity to review it and, of course, speak with the licensee,' he said.
Stacy Michaels, a Fontainebleau executive, said the GCB audited five player accounts and had concerns with three. Michaels added that agents were eventually satisfied the company had followed proper protocol.
The Gaming Commission issued a two-year license to Wooden.