Incredibly, for more than a decade Victorian and Western Australian regulators either overlooked or were unaware of the continued connection with Stanley Ho. They had wound up their Asian joint venture in 2017 after the debacle in China when all 19 Crown staff were arrested and detained for illegally promoting gambling. This would never have come to light had Laurence and James not reconnected. And Stanley was a beneficiary until his death last year. A secret NSW Government banning list, released as part of the inquiry, revealed that the biggest shareholder in Melco just happens to be a Virgin Island trust called Great Respect.
Victorian regulators ticked off on the marriage, as did Western Australia.īut Stanley never really left the fold. While the family connection was enough to cause suspicions amongst regulators in America, it was assumed that Stanley, legally at least, had severed all ties with Laurence. So, in 2006, when James Packer and Laurence Ho put together a joint venture, Melco Crown, Stanley Ho rushed for the exits, handing over the keys to his Macau empire to Laurence.
