{"id":244320,"date":"2022-11-21T06:34:32","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T12:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=244320"},"modified":"2022-11-21T11:22:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T17:22:59","slug":"suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Suncity Operative ‘Mentally Tortured’ by Chinese Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

A low-level frontline worker in Suncity\u2019s Market Development Department was \u201cmentally tortured\u201d by authorities in mainland China, a court in Macau has heard.<\/p>\n

\"Suncity
Suncity operatives are arrested in Macau in November 2021, 11 months after Au Wang Tong was detained by mainland authorities at the Macau-Zhuhai border checkpoint. (Image: SCMP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tearfully, Lao Ian Ian told the Macau Court of First Instance that her boyfriend, Au Wang Tong, was detained in the mainland in December 2020. When she got to see him again in March 2022, he was \u201ccompletely changed,\u201d she testified, as reported by Macau Business.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Au is a defendant in the sprawling trial<\/a> of 21 individuals in Macau linked to the now-defunct mega junket Suncity, which prosecutors have characterized as \u201ca criminal organization.\u201d The defendants, including former chairman and CEO Alvin Chau<\/a>, are charged with illegal gambling, criminal association, fraud, and money laundering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Au has been absent from proceedings in Macau because he is prohibited from leaving the mainland. Authorities from the city of Wenzhou, eastern China, are separately prosecuting dozens of former Suncity operatives. Au\u2019s role at Suncity involved creating illegal cash accounts and promoting the junkets’ VIP rooms to mainland residents, according to Macau Business.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Broken, Suicidal\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Au was arrested at the Macau-Zhuhai border checkpoint as he and Lao attempted to return to Macau after a trip to the mainland, Lao testified.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what was happening at the time. The customs officers just told me to leave when they took my boyfriend away,\u201d she testified, as reported by Macau Business.<\/em><\/p>\n

Only months later, after obtaining the assistance of a mainland lawyer, did she learn her boyfriend was incarcerated on the mainland<\/p>\n

[Au] told the lawyer he was imprisoned in a small room, forced to stand [all the time], not allowed to bathe,\u201d<\/strong> she said. \u201cHe was mentally tortured \u2026 and he had an emotional breakdown.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When she was finally able to see him again, 15 months after his detention, Lao said he had lost weight and looked exhausted. He had scars on his wrist and told Lao he had thought of nothing else but killing himself every day of his incarceration.<\/p>\n

Case Against Suncity <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Macau authorities accuse Suncity of running an illegal side-betting operation that allegedly cheated the Macau government out of just over US$1 billion in gaming taxes. The junket also offered illegal proxy betting services and online gambling, prosecutors claim.<\/p>\n

\n

Suncity was the biggest operator in the junket industry, which once drove massive revenues into Macau\u2019s casino sector. The Politburo in Beijing blamed the industry for facilitating money laundering and capital flight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In September, the Wenzhou court convicted 36 Suncity operators of gambling crimes. Au was not among them. He is scheduled to be tried with others at a future hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A low-level frontline worker in Suncity\u2019s Market Development Department was \u201cmentally tortured\u201d by authorities in mainland China, a court in Macau has heard. Tearfully, Lao Ian Ian told the Macau Court of First Instance that her boyfriend, Au Wang Tong, was detained in the mainland in December 2020. When she got to see him again […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":244321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,60],"tags":[82344,51,82652],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSuncity Operative \u201cMentally Tortured\u201d by Chinese Authorities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Suncity employee Lao Au Wang Tong was mentally tortured and driven to brink of suicide after being held on mainland for 1.5 years.\" \/>\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\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suncity Operative \u201cMentally Tortured\u201d by Chinese Authorities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Suncity employee Lao Au Wang Tong was mentally tortured and driven to brink of suicide after being held on mainland for 1.5 years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/\" \/>\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=\"2022-11-21T12:34:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-21T17:22:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Suncity.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\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\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/\",\"name\":\"Suncity Operative \u201cMentally Tortured\u201d by Chinese Authorities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Suncity.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-21T12:34:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-21T17:22:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Suncity employee Lao Au Wang Tong was mentally tortured and driven to brink of suicide after being held on mainland for 1.5 years.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/suncity-operative-mentally-tortured-by-chinese-authorities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Suncity.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Suncity.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"Suncity operatives are arrested in Macau in November 2021, 11 months after Au Wang Tong was detained by mainland authorities at the Macau-Zhuhai border checkpoint. 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