A China-founded company, that in 2013 – when known as 500.com Ltd – had an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, has agreed to pay U.S. authorities a US$10-million criminal penalty for involvement in a “corrupt scheme to pay bribes to Japanese government officials” in its effort to open a casino in Japan.
The firm, now known as BIT Mining Ltd, had been assessed for a US$54-million penalty for the bribery scheme – dating to between 2017 and 2019 – in contravention of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the firm wasn’t able to pay the US$54 million due to its “financial condition”. The Justice Department also decided to credit up to US$4 million against a civil penalty BIT Mining has agreed to pay to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve a parallel investigation.
In addition, Zhengming Pan, a Chinese national and former chief executive of 500.com, was on Monday charged with violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with events surrounding Japan’s northernmost prefecture Hokkaido once exploring the possibility of getting a casino resort.
The information was given in press releases issued respectively on Monday by the Justice Department and the SEC.
“BIT Mining, under the alleged direction of then-CEO Zhengming Pan, agreed to pay nearly US$2 million in bribes to Japanese government officials to win a contract to open a lucrative resort and casino in Japan,” said principal deputy assistant attorney general Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, as cited by its announcement.
“Pan has been indicted for his alleged role in directing company consultants to pay the bribes and to conceal the illicit payments through sham consulting contracts.
“Today’s resolution and the charges against Pan demonstrate the department’s continued commitment to holding both corporate and individual wrongdoers accountable for their crimes,” added Ms Argentieri.
In its own statement, the SEC said the “widespread bribery scheme” promoted by 500.com “involved illicit payments of approximately US$2.5 million in the form of cash bribes, 온라인카지노사이트 entertainment, and extravagant trips”.
In September 2021, former Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto was given a four-year prison sentence and a JPY7.5 million (US$48,589 currently) fine after being found guilty of receiving bribes over the previously-proposed Hokkaido casino scheme. He was among a number of Japanese nationals implicated in criminal investigations into the saga.
The governor of Hokkaido decided in November 2019 – prior to news breaking regarding the bribery allegations – not to propose the prefecture to Japan’s national government as a candidate site in an initial phase of casino liberalisation in the country.
In June this year Tomakomai city, an economically-straitened industrial port city in Hokkaido, witnessed a meeting of people that still support the idea of hosting a casino resort in the prefecture as a spur to economic regeneration.