Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen scored another legal victory over Las Vegas Sands after a Las Vegas judge affirmed the $70 million the latter has been ordered to pay to the former for his role in helping the company obtain a casino gaming license in Macau. Earlier this month, a jury sided with the businessman and came to a decision that the casino operator should have been compensated Suen for his work.
Shortly after that verdict, Sands spokesman Ron Reese declared that LVS wouldn’t take that decision lying down, saying that “there are compelling and sufficient grounds on which to appeal this verdict, and we will do so aggressively.”
But according to the Las Vegas Sun, the Vegas judge not only affirmed the jury’s decision, but also tacked on another $31.6 million in interest of 5.25 percent ($8,400 per day since 2004) bringing up the total amount the casino is being ordered to pay at $101.6 million.
The whole brouhaha between Suen and Sands began when the former was supposedly promised $5 million and 2 percent of Sands’ Macau casino profits if it could help LVS secure a gaming license in Macau. At least that’s Suen’s side of the story. But LVS, while admitting that it had promised the businessman a “success fee”, contends that it was able to secure a license on its own and without the help of Suen, thus owing the man nothing more than a handshake and a pat on the back.
But every time the two sides face off in court, LVS has been on the losing end, having lost a previous suit in 2008 when it was ordered to pay $43.8 million, only for the Nevada Supreme Court to overturn the verdict in 2010. Undaunted, Suen slapped another lawsuit against LVS, which concluded after the jury decided in favor of the businessman again.
While it’s still feasible that LVS will back up spokesman Reese’s statement that another appeal is coming, the amount of money the company is being ordered to pay Suen is rising by the day.
