{"id":197525,"date":"2022-01-10T10:44:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T18:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=197525"},"modified":"2022-01-10T13:26:49","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T21:26:49","slug":"philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines Court Tosses Kazuo Okada Fraud Charges, Quashes Arrest Warrant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philippines Court of Appeals has quashed fraud charges against the Japanese gaming billionaire Kazuo Okada. In the same breath, it overturned a lower court ruling that found he should stand trial for allegedly misappropriating more than US$3 million from his former company, Tiger Resorts, operator of the Okada Manila integrated resort.<\/p>\n

\"Okada\"
With echoes of HBO\u2019s Succession<\/em>, \u201cPachinko King\u201d Kazuo Okada was ousted from the company he founded in a boardroom coup orchestrated by members of his family. (Image: The Japan Times<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The order was given on Dec. 9 but has only now come to light via a report by The Manilla Bulletin.<\/em> The court found that Okada, 79, had not misappropriated the money in question. It was paid to him by Tiger Resorts \u201cin consideration for services rendered as consultant and CEO.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his ruling, Associate Justice Alfredo D. Ampuan wrote that the lower court had committed an \u201cabuse of discretion\u201d when it issued arrest warrants for Okada and his right-hand man, Takahiro Usui, in March 2018.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was lack of probable cause to issue warrants of arrest because not all the elements of the crime of estafa<\/em> [fraud] was proved,\u201d Ampuan wrote.<\/p>\n

Boardroom Coup<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Those warrants came after Okada was ousted by the company he founded five decades ago, Tiger parent Universal Entertainment. It happened in what he has described as a boardroom coup orchestrated by members of his own family.<\/a><\/p>\n

Okada holds a 46.38 percent stake in Okada Holdings, which controls Universal. His son, Tomohiro, holds 43.48 percent, and his daughter, Hiromi, 9.78 percent. This meant that a pact between the two siblings was enough to topple their father.<\/p>\n

\n

The board accused Okada of three instances of fraud related to the misappropriation of some US$17.26 million of Universal Entertainment funds. It declared him \u201cunfit\u201d to represent a public company and voted him out after his estranged wife Takako Okada and his children moved against him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Okada said the money was a director\u2019s loan, to be used for the development of the Okada Manila, which he intended to repay.<\/p>\n

Subsequent legal efforts by Okada to regain control of the company have failed<\/a> in the Tokyo courts.<\/p>\n

Battle with Wynn<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In Japan, Okada is dubbed \u201cthe Pachinko King\u201d after the popular slot-pinball hybrid machines that made his fortune.<\/p>\n

He was an early investor in Steve Wynn\u2019s Wynn Resorts and sat on the board until 2012. But the two men fell out after Wynn accused Okada of bribing a Philippine official to land a license for what would become the Okada Manila.<\/p>\n

Wynn Resorts forcibly redeemed the shares Okada owned through Universal, then worth US$2.77 billion, at a 30 percent discount, and kicked him off the board.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2018, Wynn Resorts agreed to pay Universal US$2.6 billion to settle resulting litigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Philippines Court of Appeals has quashed fraud charges against the Japanese gaming billionaire Kazuo Okada. In the same breath, it overturned a lower court ruling that found he should stand trial for allegedly misappropriating more than US$3 million from his former company, Tiger Resorts, operator of the Okada Manila integrated resort. The order was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":197529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhilippines Court Tosses Kazuo Okada Fraud Charges, Arrest Warrant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kazuo Okada, billionaire founder of Universal Entertainment, should not have been charged with fraud in Philippines, judge says.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philippines Court Tosses Kazuo Okada Fraud Charges, Arrest Warrant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kazuo Okada, billionaire founder of Universal Entertainment, should not have been charged with fraud in Philippines, judge says.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-10T18:44:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-10T21:26:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/kazuo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/\",\"name\":\"Philippines Court Tosses Kazuo Okada Fraud Charges, Arrest Warrant\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/kazuo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-10T18:44:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-10T21:26:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Kazuo Okada, billionaire founder of Universal Entertainment, should not have been charged with fraud in Philippines, judge says.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-court-tosses-kazuo-okada-fraud-charges-arrest-warrant\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/kazuo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/kazuo.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1333,\"caption\":\"With echoes of HBO\u2019s Succession, \u201cPachinko King\u201d Kazuo Okada was ousted by from the company he founded in a boardroom coup orchestrated by members of his family. 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