US adds charges against Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng in UN bribe case

U.S. prosecutors unveiled more charges against a billionaire Macau real estate developer and three others accused of engaging in a bribery scheme involving a former president of the United Nations General Assembly.

The charges were in an indictment in Manhattan federal court against five people including John Ashe, a former U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda who was General Assembly president from 2013 to 2014.

Prosecutors previously said Ashe took more than $1.3 million (HK$10 million) in bribes from Chinese businessmen including Ng Lap Seng, who has a US$1.8 billion (HK$14 billion) net worth and developments in the Chinese territory Macau.

Ng, 68, who prosecutors say paid Ashe more than US$500,000 (HK$3.9 million) to seek U.N. support of a conference centre in Macau, had previously been charged on Oct. 6 with bribery conspiracy and bribery charges.

Ng now faces two additional counts including money laundering, as well as his assistant, Jeff Yin, and Francis Lorenzo, a now-suspended deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic. Both men were accused of facilitating the bribes.

Ng’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said his client would be “vigorously defended.”