- UPDATED
- Business
This was published 6 years ago
Crown executive Jason O'Connor released from Chinese jail
By Kirsty Needham and China correspondent
Crown Resorts' head of VIP operations, Jason O'Connor, has been released from a Shanghai prison after serving a 10-month sentence for promoting gambling.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirmed Mr O'Connor had been released from detention on Saturday and was returning to Australia.
"Mr O'Connor is the last of three Australian Crown employees to be released following completion of their sentences," Ms Bishop said.
Mr O'Connor was taken by Public Security Bureau officers from a Shanghai detention centre directly to the airport, it is understood.
James Packer's company informed Ten's board in early May it was not willing to act as guarantor any more. Credit: Bloomberg
Nineteen Crown staff pleaded guilty to the crime of promoting gambling in June, in a trial that lasted half a day.
The swoop by Chinese authorities on Crown's mainland China marketing team last October in effect spelt the end of the James Packer's casino company's aggressive pursuit of Chinese high rollers to fill its VIP gaming rooms in Australia.
Mr O'Connor, who lived with his family in Melbourne, was visiting China to meet with Chinese high rollers at the time of the raid, and was picked up by authorities on his way to the airport.
Chinese court documents reportedly showed he was responsible for the Chinese sales targets.
Shanghai Qingpu detention centre, where foreigners are held.
He was sentenced to 10 months, including time served, after pleading guilty.
Four other staff members - Crown's head of China, Alfred Gomez, and three Chinese nationals - received the same sentence and are also expected to be released.
Crown employee Jenny Jiang (wearing a mask) and her husband Jeff Sikkema walking out of Baoshan People's Court in Shanghai in June.Credit: Sanghee Liu
Two other Australians, Jerry Xuan and Jane Pan Dan, were among another 11 staff who were sentenced to nine months' jail and were released on July 12.
Mr O'Connor was fined $390,000, Ms Pan $78,000 and Mr Xuan about $39,000.
Crown Resorts executive Jason O'Connor was released and deported on Saturday.
However, unlike the other two Australian Crown staff, Mr O'Connor was sentenced to deportation.
Under Chinese regulations, where a foreigner is sentenced to expulsion as a supplemental penalty after the end of a prison term, "the foreigner shall be escorted by prison officers, guarding armed police and foreign affairs police ... and may be handcuffed if necessary".
"Personnel executing a deportation shall monitor the means of transportation for the foreigner being deported and shall not leave the premises until s/he has boarded and departed," the regulations state.
The promotion of gambling is illegal in China, and the Chinese government has cracked down on foreign casinos attracting wealthy Chinese to travel overseas to gamble.
Crown chairman John Alexander said the company was "very pleased that our employees are being reunited with their families".
'End of a long and arduous journey'
"This is the end of a long and arduous journey for Crown," GamePlan Consultants founder Sudhir Kale said.
"The company has well and truly paid its dues by way of fines, huge legal costs, drop in market capitalisation, and the emotional trauma experienced by its employees while in prison."
Since the crackdown, the company has sold out of its Macau venture and closed most of its offices across Asia. Its VIP program-play turnover in the year ended June 30 slumped 49 per cent to $33.3 billion, dragging down revenue at its Melbourne and Perth resorts.
'Learnt from Crown's example'
Mr Packer, who quit as chairman in August 2015 and left the board the following December, returned this month as a director as Crown focuses on its domestic resorts, and the construction of the $2 billion Barangaroo luxury hotel and casino in Sydney.
"Other operators have learnt from Crown's example, and their marketing efforts in China will be a lot more sedate," Mr Kale said.
Crown's shares fell 1.9 per cent on Friday. After tumbling last year on news of the detentions in China, the stock recovered all its losses by June, only to slump again. Crown is now down 11 per cent since mid-October.
with Bloomberg