{"id":315703,"date":"2024-03-28T14:59:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T19:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=315703"},"modified":"2024-03-29T11:22:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:22:10","slug":"magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Palace Casino Montreal Shut Down, Denies Links to Sinaloa Cartel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission<\/a> (KGC) has closed down the Magic Palace Montreal and suspended its gaming license as a result of an ongoing money laundering investigation.<\/p>\n

\"Luftar
Luftar Hysa appears on Albanian television, above, to denounce alleged links to the Sinaloa Cartel. The businessman is an \u201cinvestor\u201d in Magic Palace, according to a legal representative for the casino. (Image: CNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The casino, based in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory<\/a>, across the river from Montreal, Canada, says it plans to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n

\n

Tribal police arrived at the casino on Monday, told customers to leave, and closed the doors. The KGC said in a statement it had taken the action because of \u201cnumerous concerns arising out of investigations conducted over the past several months.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“The effect of this directive is that Magic Palace must immediately close all of its gaming operations \u2014 including both Electronic Gaming Devices and Poker Room tables \u2014 pending further decision by the Commission,” the release reads.<\/p>\n

Sinaloa Allegations <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In October 2023, La Presse<\/em> reported that an investor in Magic Palace, Albanian-born Luftar Hysa, \u201crecycles money from Mexican traffickers and that he uses a casino in Kahnawake to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hysa is being investigated in three countries for links to Mexico\u2019s Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful and violent drug-trafficking organizations in the world, according to court documents seen by La Presse.<\/em><\/p>\n

Everything indicates that Luftar Ali Hysa infiltrated the Kahnawake Indian reservation to facilitate money laundering activities on behalf of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, as well as for his own account,\u201d<\/strong> an RCMP officer told the Montreal courthouse under oath, according to La Presse. \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/em>The gaming commission in October found Hysa unsuitable to be licensed as a key person, and the Magic Palace apparently severed ties with him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Undisclosed Beneficiary\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake hired a U.S. firm specializing in casino audits to investigate. In a statement Tuesday, the council said the investigation revealed there was an \u201cundisclosed beneficiary owner of the Magic Palace\u201d who isn’t a member of the Mohawk First Nation.<\/p>\n

\n

The beneficiary exercised significant control over the casino and received most of its profits, according to the council. This would be a violation of the terms of the casino\u2019s right to operate on the reservation, which must be for the good of the community, the council said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Lawyer Pierre L’Ecuyer represents Magic Palace owners Barry Alfred and Stan Myiow. He confirmed that Hysa was an \u201cinvestor\u201d in the casino, but suggested the RCMP gave \u201cfalse information\u201d to the gaming commission about cartel links.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Hysa] had some allegations made in Mexico where he has some casinos,” L’Ecuyer told La Presse.<\/em> “Mr. Hysa has been completely cleared and it was clear that these allegations were made because people in the same business wanted Mr. Hysa out of the business.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) has closed down the Magic Palace Montreal and suspended its gaming license as a result of an ongoing money laundering investigation. The casino, based in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, across the river from Montreal, Canada, says it plans to appeal the decision. Tribal police arrived at the casino on Monday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":315704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81887,21,10,13592],"tags":[90363,90362,90361,90364],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMagic Palace Montreal Shut Down, Denies Links to Sinaloa Cartel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Magic Palace Casino has been shut down by Kahnawake regulators, who suspect links to Luftar Hysa and the Sinaloa cartel.\" \/>\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\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Magic Palace Montreal Shut Down, Denies Links to Sinaloa Cartel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Magic Palace Casino has been shut down by Kahnawake regulators, who suspect links to Luftar Hysa and the Sinaloa cartel.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-03-28T19:59:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-29T16:22:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/hysar.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/\",\"name\":\"Magic Palace Montreal Shut Down, Denies Links to Sinaloa Cartel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/hysar.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-28T19:59:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-29T16:22:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Magic Palace Casino has been shut down by Kahnawake regulators, who suspect links to Luftar Hysa and the Sinaloa cartel.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-palace-montreal-shut-down-denies-links-to-sinaloa-cartel\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/hysar.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/hysar.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":525,\"caption\":\"Luftar Hysa appears on Albanian television, above, to denounce alleged links to the Sinaloa cartel. 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