AAEC requests written testimony from former LVS president
AAEC and LVS agree to request written testimony from former LVS president and CEO William Weidner to check the authenticity of his signature on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between both companies.
Macau.- In a new chapter of the LVS – AAEC legal battle, Macau’s Court of First Instance has given Asian American Entertainment Corporation (AAEC) five days to demonstrate when and how it came to acquire a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between both companies back in 2001.
Las Vegas Sands and AAEC have agreed to request written testimony from William Weidner, former LVS president and CEO, regarding the authenticity of his signature on the MOU.
According to the Macau Daily News, the judge in the case has given Weidner ten days to verify the documents.
Las Vegas Sands has claimed that the MOU submitted to Macau’s gaming regulator 20 years ago was forged and threatened legal action.
AAEC initiated the lawsuit in 2012, arguing that Sands breached its contract for a casino licence in Macau in 2002.
It is seeking damages calculated at around 70 per cent of Sands’ Macau profits from 2004 to 2022.
The legal battle is entering its final stages, with the Macau court case set to conclude on January 21.
Local media reports revealed that the judge also questioned the motives of the parties seeking to file additional documents given the advanced stage of the proceedings.
A report commissioned by Marshall Hao Shi-Sheng, AAEC’s CEO, revealed the company may lose up to MOP$57.9bn (US$7.4bn) in profits after Las Vegas Sands breached its contract for a casino licence in Macau.
It stated that AAEC’s investment was as much as LVS’s investment in Venetian Macau. It stated that based on initial investment assumptions, AAEC Group invested MOP$252bn in the market.
As Asia Gaming Brief revealed, the report also stated that the MOP$3.6bn paid in gaming tax and MOP$400m in corporate tax have been included in the group’s net profit, so any analysis of damages should not be further revised downward for such items.
