Stanley Ho nephew becomes second relative to register interest in deceased casino mogul’s estate at Hong Kong High Court
- Michael Hotung, whose mother filed more than 30 lawsuits against the Macau gambling kingpin while alive, previously sued Ho for HK$2 billion
- Deborah Ho, one of the tycoon’s daughters, lodged her own caveat over the estate earlier this month
A nephew of Stanley Ho Hung-sun, the patriarch of Asia’s largest casino empire for half a century, has become the second family member to take legal action in Hong Kong to register an interest in the late tycoon’s estate.
Michael Hotung, also known as Mak Shun-ming, on Friday lodged a caveat at the Probate Registry in the High Court demanding his solicitors be notified before the sealing of Ho’s grant, which would authorise the executor to administer his estate.
Hotung is the son of Stanley Ho’s late sister, businesswoman Winnie Ho Yuen-ki, and her cousin and secret lover, billionaire Eric Hotung, who died in October 2017. Ho’s grandfather was Ho Fook, the younger brother of influential colonial-era tycoon Robert Hotung.
The same nephew previously sued his uncle for HK$2 billion (US$255 million) in dividends on unpaid shares in the family’s gambling company, Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM), on behalf of his mother, who died aged 95 in June 2018.
That legal action filed in January last year revealed that Michael Hotung was sole executor of Winnie Ho’s will.
STDM is the flagship casino operator co-founded by Stanley Ho more than half a century ago, which until 2000 enjoyed a monopoly in Macau’s gambling industry.