{"id":227906,"date":"2022-08-23T11:10:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T16:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=227906"},"modified":"2022-08-24T13:54:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T18:54:52","slug":"queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Wharf Casino Brisbane, Major Shareholder Linked to Triad Leader \u2018Broken Tooth’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star Entertainment\u2019s Queen\u2019s Wharf casino resort project<\/a> in Brisbane, Queensland, is part-owned by a Hong Kong company with historical links to a notorious Triad boss.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Star
Wan Kuok Koi, aka \u201cBroken Tooth,\u201d pictured being escorted to court shortly after his arrest in 1998. He is reputedly the leader of the 14K Triads, according to the US Treasury Department. (Image: SCMP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which has linked the company, Chow Tai Fook, to the former leader of the 14K Triads, \u201cBroken Tooth\u201d Wan Kuok Koi.<\/p>\n

\n

The news comes as Queensland kicked off a public inquiry Tuesday into Star\u2019s suitability to continue holding a gambling license in the state. And it raises questions about why Queensland regulators approved Chow Tai Fook as a \u201cfit and proper\u201d partner in the AU$3.6 billion (US$2.55 billion) Queen\u2019s Wharf development in 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Former Queensland auditor-general Len Scanlan, a probity advisor on the project, confirmed to ABC that the government was unaware of Chow Tai Fook\u2019s checkered history at the time.<\/p>\n

Cheng and Ho, Alleged Triad Ties<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The company, which owns 25% of the venture, was formed by jewelry and property billionaire Cheng Yu Tung, who was Hong Kong\u2019s third-richest man when he died in 2020.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, Cheng went into business with Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho, who owned the casino monopoly in the gambling enclave. Ho also died in 2020. The Ho family is blacklisted from the casino industries of some jurisdictions, including New South Wales, for its alleged links to triads.<\/p>\n

\n

When Cheng and Ho opened their Macau VIP rooms, they used the 14K and Sun Yee On Triads as debt collectors, according to ABC. Among them was \u201cBroken Tooth\u201d Koi, who once held an $8 million stake in a VIP room owned by Cheng and Ho, according to Macau prosecutors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the 1990s, the dog days of Portuguese rule, triad groups fought vicious turf wars to control Macau\u2019s legal VIP rooms and underground gambling dens. In 1998, Macau gaming inspector Francisco Xavier Pinto do Amaral was shot dead in the street in broad daylight. He had tried to impose tighter regulations on the VIP rooms<\/p>\n

\u2018Broken Tooth\u2019 Arrest<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wan was arrested later that year on suspicion of the attempted car bombing of a local police chief. He was convicted of illegal gambling, loan sharking, and criminal association and sentenced to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

He was released in 2012 and reentered the junket business. In May 2015, he opened the Guoying VIP Club at L\u2019Arc Casino in Macau.<\/p>\n

\n

In December 2020, Wan was sanctioned by the US government. According to a statement from the Treasury Department at the time, he was still the head of the 14K. He had been spreading his criminal network across Southeast Asia and China\u2019s Belt and Road economic bloc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As the licensing review begins in Queensland, Star Entertainment is still awaiting the outcome of a similar inquiry in New South Wales. Both were triggered by reports in the Australian media alleging Star wooed suspected criminals, foreign agents, and fraudsters to gamble at its casinos from at least 2014 to 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Star Entertainment\u2019s Queen\u2019s Wharf casino resort project in Brisbane, Queensland, is part-owned by a Hong Kong company with historical links to a notorious Triad boss. That\u2019s according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which has linked the company, Chow Tai Fook, to the former leader of the 14K Triads, \u201cBroken Tooth\u201d Wan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":227909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nQueens Wharf Casino Brisbane, Major Shareholder Linked to Triad Leader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chow Tai Fook, a major shareholder in Brisbane\u2019s Casino Wharf Casino, has been linked to triad \u201cBroken Tooth\u201d Wan Kuok Koi.\" \/>\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\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Queens Wharf Casino Brisbane, Major Shareholder Linked to Triad Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chow Tai Fook, a major shareholder in Brisbane\u2019s Casino Wharf Casino, has been linked to triad \u201cBroken Tooth\u201d Wan Kuok Koi.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/\" \/>\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=\"2022-08-23T16:10:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-24T18:54:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Broken-Tooth.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/\",\"name\":\"Queens Wharf Casino Brisbane, Major Shareholder Linked to Triad Leader\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Broken-Tooth.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-23T16:10:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-24T18:54:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Chow Tai Fook, a major shareholder in Brisbane\u2019s Casino Wharf Casino, has been linked to triad \u201cBroken Tooth\u201d Wan Kuok Koi.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/queens-wharf-casino-brisbane-major-shareholder-linked-to-triad-leader-broken-tooth\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Broken-Tooth.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Broken-Tooth.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Wan Kuok Koi, aka \u201cBroken Tooth,\u201d pictured being escorted to court shortly after his arrest in 1998. 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