Super Ocean Group owner used his own company for gambling exchanges
Eddie Ye Lipei is a man who loves to gamble. At the Crown Casino in Melbourne, he had a credit facility of A$500,000 (HK$2.56 million), lost up to $5 million a night and still had time for the occasional round of golf with the management.
He also rolled the dice with China's strict foreign exchange laws by arranging for high-rolling Shanghai punters to plough their cash on to the blackjack tables.
Mr Ye may consider himself to be short on luck of late. A court in Australia recently ruled against him in a dispute with the Crown Casino. His role as a conduit for other people's money backfired to the tune of A$2.2 million.
It also revealed that at least some of these exchanges were done through his company, Super Ocean Group, and carried a high risk: on one occasion, a Shanghai businessman on one of Mr Ye's 'junkets' lost A$80 million.
An Australian citizen, Mr Ye was a regular at the Crown as a 'junket' operator, earning a commission based on the turnover of the other high-rollers he brought to the table.