{"id":178689,"date":"2021-07-05T15:58:08","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T22:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/"},"modified":"2021-07-05T16:35:31","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T23:35:31","slug":"iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/","title":{"rendered":"iProsperity Ponzi Scheme Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fugitive fraudster accused of running a A$325 million (US$245 million) Ponzi scheme passed $8 million of his clients\u2019 missing funds through the Crown Melbourne Casino<\/a>, Australian newspaper The Age <\/em><\/a>reports.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Michael
Michael Gu allegedly spent his clients\u2019 funds on high living and a fleet of supercars. (Image: Canberra Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michael Gu, whereabouts unknown, is the founder of Sydney-based property group iProsperity, which collapsed last year owing hundreds of millions to investors.<\/p>\n

Authorities believe he conned clients by claiming he was buying a portfolio of commercial property in Australia. In fact, he and his CFO, Harry Huang, were misappropriating investor funds to pay other investors while living the high life, according to a report by administrator KPMG, published last August.<\/p>\n

Gu allegedly used the company like his own personal piggy bank, taking at least $21.5 million in director\u2019s loans that he failed to repay. He splurged on supercars: two Lamborghinis, a\u00a0Rolls Royce Wraith, a Ferrari GTB, an Audi Q7, and a McLaren Spider. According to Australian media, he drank $3,000 bottles of wine and travelled by private jet.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hallmarks of Money Laundering\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Awkwardly for Crown Resorts, in a new report to creditors, liquidator Cor Cordis said some of the iProsperity fund also ended up at the Melbourne property. Either Gu or Huang sent the $8 million to Crown Melbourne between August 2014 and May 2017, according to the liquidator.<\/p>\n

According to The Age<\/em>, Gu then either withdrew the money or used it for gambling. The transactions had the \u201challmarks of money laundering,\u201d the newspaper said.<\/p>\n

We are treating this matter seriously and have immediately launched an investigation into the allegations. Crown will ensure regulators, the royal commissions, and other relevant authorities are informed and updated as required,\u201d said Crown in a statement.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Australian media allegations against Crown of financial misconduct led to a licensing suitability investigation in New South Wales that stripped the company of its Sydney license.<\/p>\n

Regulators found that Crown\u2019s VIP gambling division facilitated money laundering and conducted business with foreign junkets that had links to organized crime.<\/p>\n

The loss of its license has prevented it from opening the gaming facilities at its US$2 billion Crown Sydney property as planned.<\/p>\n

Put it on the Room<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, an investigation in the state of Victoria reviewing Crown\u2019s Melbourne license heard last week that the company facilitated the movement of more than A$160 million (US$120 million) out of China over four years.<\/p>\n

Crown allowed high rollers to make payments from Chinese credit cards to hotel reception for rooms that did not exist. The transactions were then converted to cash for the patrons to gamble with at the casino.<\/p>\n

The system required the creation of fake invoices for the bogus rooms, possibly in violation of Australian law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fugitive fraudster accused of running a A$325 million (US$245 million) Ponzi scheme passed $8 million of his clients\u2019 missing funds through the Crown Melbourne Casino, Australian newspaper The Age reports. Michael Gu, whereabouts unknown, is the founder of Sydney-based property group iProsperity, which collapsed last year owing hundreds of millions to investors. Authorities believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":178690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\niProsperity Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michael Gu, founder of collapsed property group iPosperity, transferred 8 million to Crown Melbourne, according to liquidator, Cor Cordis.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"iProsperity Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michael Gu, founder of collapsed property group iPosperity, transferred 8 million to Crown Melbourne, according to liquidator, Cor Cordis.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-05T22:58:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-05T23:35:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"678\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/\",\"name\":\"iProsperity Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-05T22:58:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-05T23:35:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Michael Gu, founder of collapsed property group iPosperity, transferred 8 million to Crown Melbourne, according to liquidator, Cor Cordis.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":678,\"caption\":\"Michael Gu allegedly spent his clients\u2019 funds on high living and a fleet of supercars. (Image: Canberra Times)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"iProsperity Ponzi Scheme Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"iProsperity Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne","description":"Michael Gu, founder of collapsed property group iPosperity, transferred 8 million to Crown Melbourne, according to liquidator, Cor Cordis.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"iProsperity Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne","og_description":"Michael Gu, founder of collapsed property group iPosperity, transferred 8 million to Crown Melbourne, according to liquidator, Cor Cordis.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-07-05T22:58:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-05T23:35:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":678,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/","name":"iProsperity Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-05T22:58:08+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-05T23:35:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Michael Gu, founder of collapsed property group iPosperity, transferred 8 million to Crown Melbourne, according to liquidator, Cor Cordis.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/michael-gu.jpg","width":1200,"height":678,"caption":"Michael Gu allegedly spent his clients\u2019 funds on high living and a fleet of supercars. (Image: Canberra Times)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iprosperity-fraudster-siphoned-8m-through-crown-melbourne\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"iProsperity Ponzi Scheme Fraudster Siphoned $8M Through Crown Melbourne"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}