Wynn Palace Hotel Room on Macau’s Cotai Strip, Location of Murder

Posted on: August 8, 2024, 09:45 AM.

Last updated: August 8, 2024, 09:54 AM.

The Wynn Palace luxury resort on Macau’s posh Cotai Strip was the scene of a violent crime on Wednesday, local police said.

Macau Judicial Police said its officers responded to Wynn Palace on Wednesday afternoon after the resort’s security found a deceased man in the bathroom of a hotel room. A relative of the victim had previously requested a welfare check.

Police identified the deceased as a 40-year-old man. The victim had a stab wound of nearly eight inches around his neck.

Wynn Palace features 1,706 guest rooms and suites and a casino floor with approximately 700 slot machines and more than 220 live dealer table games.

Arrests, charges filed

Investigators found evidence that the victim knew his attackers and was working with them illegally in a gang primarily involved in money laundering. After identifying the suspects, police tracked down the alleged attackers in Macau’s Taipa district, just north of the Cotai Strip.

A 40-year-old man surnamed Yang and a 48-year-old woman surnamed Tang were arrested. The man was charged with aggravated manslaughter and theft. The woman was charged with money laundering.

About HK$1.7 million in cash was recovered. It was not immediately known whether the victim had won the HK$2.5 million gambling winnings or was attempting to launder dirty money on behalf of his criminal enterprise through the Wynn casino.

Currency exchange gangs

Last month, China’s Ministry of Public Security launched an initiative to crack down on money-changing gangs operating in Macau. National police said the campaign aims to curb the “arrogance of criminals” and disrupt the purging of dirty money in Macau, a tax haven where taxes are significantly lower than on the mainland.

Chinese government officials in Beijing say there has been a marked increase in the number of illegal currency exchange gangs operating in Macau. Such criminal enterprises help mainlanders engage in illegal currency trading in Macau.

These criminal organizations are reportedly controlled by “hidden financiers,” and the transfer of Hong Kong currency and renminbi is conducted through secret financial institutions in the nearby city of Zhuhai. It is estimated that these illegal activities have generated an annual profit of more than HKD1.5 billion,” according to a July report in the Macau Daily News explanation of the underground sector.

Chinese President Xi Jinping says controlling financial risks and limiting the flow of money out of the Communist Party regime is vital to national security. The crackdown comes as China tells Macau to crack down on junket groups that have targeted the mainland elite by offering them free first-class travel and five-star accommodation in Macau in exchange for a promise to gamble an amount equal to the total cost of their trip.