Recently Discovered Sands Macao Report Points To Allegations Of U.S. Intelligence Activities

In a recent report released by a team of investigators for The Guardian, and originally commissioned by Sands China as part of its internal corporate data collection in 2010, a private investigator said Chinese central government officials had become concerned about the infiltration of Macau by the CIA "to monitor mainland government officials who gamble in casinos."

The report was discovered by the University of California, Berkeley's campus investigative reporting program in a recent collection of Sands documents filed in Las Vegas as part of a lawsuit against former Sands Macau chairman Stephen Jacobs for unfair dismissal.

The investigator did not claim that Sands was complicit in U.S. intelligence activities, only that certain Chinese officials believed so. The report did not provide a specific source that the information provided was "based on an influential source." Sands officials then described the document as a "collection of meaningless speculation," referring to the ambiguity of the source.

During the initial establishment of an American casino in a gambling haven in China, conspiracy suspicions abounded. But the report estimated that about $2 billion in gambling money was generated annually by Chinese officials visiting Macau, even though central government agencies, mostly inside China, did not receive salaries that most officials could justify that level of casino play.

The Chinese government has refused to allow the opening of a consulate in Macau to dissuade U.S. interference in regional politics. But the report suggests that the investigator was tasked with gathering information about Macau's Chief Executive Fernando Cui. Furthermore, it is alleged that Sands Macau owner Sheldon Adelson demanded that senior Macau government officials, especially Jacobs, use "inappropriate leverage" to gain ownership of some apartments to advance Adelson's interests in his wrongful termination lawsuit.

Despite Adelson's intentions revealed in the report, the investigator said, "It is unlikely that any form of scandal or allegations against him (Chui) will be adhered to." 슬롯