Sydney’s Star casino: High-roller lawsuit over gambling chip debt dropped
A punter identified as one of the organisers of Crown Casino’s controversial high-roller Chinese junkets is no longer being sued over a multi-million dollar Star gambling chip loan.
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A casino high roller with ties to a group linked to the Chinese communist party is no longer being sued by a punter over a multi-million dollar gambling chip debt at Sydney’s Star casino.
Millionaire Xiongming Xie has links to controversial Chinese billionaire and property developer Huang Xiangmo, the communist-aligned political donor expelled from Australia by the federal government as an alleged “agent of influence”.
Xie was one of the organisers of Crown Casino’s contentious high-roller Chinese junkets, the Supreme Court heard.
The 41-year-old was being sued in civil court by Star punter Qiyun Zhou over an alleged $3.1 million loan made in gambling chips at the casino in 2016.
But on Wednesday Justice James Stevenson dismissed the proceedings because Mr Zhou had not been actively involved in the case since May, and “now appears to be in Vanuatu.”
The court heard that in September Mr Zhou’s solicitor revealed he had not been able to contact his client “for a long time,” and he may have returned to China.
“The last place that Mr Zhou was known to be was Vanuatu… the other place that he is located potentially is Wuhan city,” Xie‘s barrister Margaret Pringle said.
Justice Stevenson ordered Mr Zhou to pay Xie’s legal costs, with Ms Pringle calculating his bills to be around $80,000.
The judge also set aside a freezing order preventing Xie from dealing with his shares and a stunning Sydney waterfront mansion.
Xie had already sold the luxury Hunters Hill home in April but barely made a profit - scoring $800,000 less than the initial $4.85 million price guide.
The gambler currently faces criminal charges involving an unrelated matter. Police allege he threatened a man at knifepoint in a Haymarket apartment and demanded the transfer of a $10 million property.
Xie was granted $500,000 bail in January after prosecutors downgraded the original charges, and is due to face Downing Centre Local Court later this month.
The Epping man denies the allegations and will be “defending them vigorously,” his lawyers say.
Xie survived a stabbing attack in June 2016 when he and his driver were set upon by two unknown Asian men.
He was seriously wounded and spent weeks in hospital.
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Justice Stevenson said Xie helped Mr Zhou organise Australian casino junkets for wealthy Chinese nationals, and the two gamblers “were active in their own right.”
Xie has been identified in media reports as a major casino player who wagered more than $100 million.
He was reportedly paid by Crown a percentage of the turnover of Asian high rollers he lured to Australia, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars between 2013 and 2017.
The court heard Xie received $1.5 million in casino chips from Tom “Mr Chinatown” Zhou - a fellow Crown high-roller junket agent.
The organised crime boss was recently arrested overseas and extradited to China for suspected money laundering and corruption.
Xie also worked under Mr Xiangmo - a central figure in an ICAC inquiry into NSW Labor donations.
Xie was deputy to the controversial Mr Xiangmo at The Council for the Peaceful Promotion of the Reunification of China, a Chinese Communist Party lobbying body in Australia.
Mr Xiangmo’s permanent residency visa was cancelled in 2018 by the Morrison government.