A Hong Kong court has rejected a claim by a former marketing executive of Australia’s Crown Resorts to be paid interest on a decade-old gambling debt accrued by the ex-husband of Chinese movie star Zhao Wei.
Details of the long-running case were published by News Ltd newspapers this week after the High Court of Hong Kong released its decision on 30 June, revealing how Singaporean real estate tycoon Huang Youlong had burned through AU$60 million in credit provided by former Macau junket Suncity Group in a matter of days during a 2015 trip to Crown Perth.
According to the reports, Crown’s then marketing vice president Chua Eh Fong had helped arrange the credit through Suncity after Crown had itself rejected Huang’s request because of “substantial gambling debts” already accrued at other casinos around the world.
Huang was initially provided with an AU$40 million credit line, which he burnt through in 48 hours, followed by an additional AU$20 million line which didn’t last much longer.
Court documents show that Huang wrote three cheques to Fong worth a combined AU$11 million as collateral – which bounced – and later paid an AU$1.8 million deposit on an AU$12.8 million Hong Kong mansion for Fong but could not cover the remainder of the purchase price.
Instead, after Suncity CEO Alvin Chau became involved, Huang eventually repaid the full AU$60 million owing directly to Suncity between February 2016 and November 2019.
In response, Fong filed a lawsuit against Huang claiming she was owed overdue interest worth 24% per annum. Huang countered that the credit had been provided by Suncity rather than Fong and as such the debt had been fully repaid. The court agreed, adding that not only had Huang entered into an agreement directly with Suncity but that there had never been any agreement to pay interest to Fong.
In his judgement, Deputy High Court Judge Alan Kwon wrote, “It was inherently unlikely that Ms Fong (who was employed by Crown and who was responsible for arranging Mr Haung to obtain gaming credit) would be treated as the principal who personally contracted with Mr Youlong for the provision of the gaming credit.
“In my view, it is artificial to suggest that Ms Fong would enter into contractual dealings with Mr Haung on a personal basis.
“It is inherently unlikely that Ms Fong and Mr Youlong would agree that Ms Fong is entitled to charge overdue interest against Mr Haung.
“All in all, [Ms Fong’s] case does not sit comfortably with basic commercial common sense and ordinary logic of events. I am not persuaded that it is credible.”
The very presence of Suncity within the casinos of Australia’s Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment Group was at the heart of the many inquiries into the two companies in recent years and has ultimately seen the junket model abandoned nationwide.
Suncity has since shut down all operations following the 2021 arrest of Chau for criminal association, illegal gambling and money laundering.
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