Wynn Las Vegas Forfeits $130 Million for Money Transfer Scheme

The chips are down for Wynn Las Vegas. 

The casino’s owner Wynn Resorts agreed to pay over $130 million to settle a case involving illegal monetary transactions.

It’s believed to be the largest forfeiture ever for a U.S. casino based on an admission of criminal wrongdoing.

According to prosecutors, the “convoluted” scheme ran for years and was designed to get around U.S. law by allowing unlicensed foreign banks to transfer money into the casino, in a bid to get high-rollers from overseas to play at Wynn.

The scheme went something like this:

Wynn employees contacted independent third-party agents to recruit overseas gamblers. The gamblers’ money was then transferred through a variety of accounts in Latin America and elsewhere, before landing in a Wynn account.

From there, the money was transferred to the Wynn cage. Wynn employees then credited the Wynn account of each individual patron.

The convoluted transactions enabled foreign gamblers at Wynn to evade foreign and U.S. laws governing monetary transfer and reporting.

“Casinos, like all businesses, will be held to account when they allow customers to evade U.S. laws for the sake of profit,” said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath of the Southern District of California. “Federal oversight seeks to prevent illegal funds from tainting legitimate businesses, ensuring that casinos offer a clean, thriving and safe entertainment option.”

Among the schemes noted: an independent agent named Juan Carlos Palermo conducted more than 200 transfers with bank accounts controlled by Wynn, exceeding $17 million.

In another, a person known as a “Human Head” bought chips at Wynn Las Vegas and gambled as a proxy for another nearby person, who was unable or unwilling to gamble under their own identity. Prosecutors say Wynn Las Vegas knowingly allowed this form of gambling without scrutinizing the source of the true patron’s funds.

“Federal laws that regulate the reporting of financial transactions are in place to detect and stop illegal activities. Deliberately avoiding Bank Secrecy Act requirements is a form of money laundering. IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to following the money and enforcing these laws, wherever it leads” said Carissa Messick, Special Agent in Charge for IRS-CI in Las Vegas.

Wynn Las Vegas signed a non-prosecution agreement to end the investigation.

15 other defendants previously admitted money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting, or other crimes, with associated criminal penalties of over $7.5 million.