Ghost pair gambled millions
Extraordinary sums changing hands caught police attention.
The millions of dollars gambled at SkyCity by the “puppet master” behind one of New Zealand’s largest drug smuggling syndicates ultimately led to William Yan forfeiting nearly $43 million to police.
The gambling records of Yixin “Lonna” Gan were analysed by detectives when police charged her with importing 250kg of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient of methamphetamine, and seized more than $3 million of property.
She was later convicted as one of the main targets in the investigation codenamed Operation Ghost and jailed for 14 years in October.
The Herald on Sunday can reveal Gan spent $15 million at SkyCity in 15 months, as well as making large deposits into her casino account and transfers to other accounts.
One of these VIPs was Yingzi Zeng, a mother of two who spent $38 million at SkyCity in 15 months.
She often gambled with Gan in Auckland and Australia, and the pair often transferred large amounts into each other’s accounts. The transactions — including a $1 million bank cheque — drew the attention of the police investigating Gan.
No charges were laid against Zeng but the police froze $9 million of assets belonging to her family, including a Maserati and a Porsche.
When detectives searched Zeng’s home, they found a paper with a familiar name, which changed the course of the investigation.
Handwritten in Chinese, the note authorised the purchase of $1.85 million worth of shares in a company registered in the British Virgin Islands and was signed by Yang Liu.
That caught the attention of Operation Galaxy detectives, who know him by other names — Bill Liu to his friends, Yong Ming Yan according to Chinese authorities and William Yan on his New Zealand passport.
Yan is close friends with Zeng and her husband Shui Yong Huang, who is also a wealthy businessman.
There is no suggestion Yan is involved in drugs but his name triggered a fresh look at the dormant allegations of fraud in China and his business dealings in New Zealand, culminating in another police raid on his penthouse in the Metropolis tower in August 2014.
Police seized more than $40 million of assets, including his 18.8 per cent stake in Mega, the online encryption service founded by Kim Dotcom.
The investigation also uncovered Yan’s SkyCity records where he gambled $293 million over 12 years, despite being banned twice for two years and losing $23 million.
Yan has said he made his fortune legitimately as a businessman and the two identities he came to New Zealand with, Yong Ming Yan and Yang Liu, are valid because he was fostered out by his birth parents in China.
Court documents show Chinese authorities claim the 45-year-old “orchestrated several complex deceptions” in a $129 million fraud when he was the chairman of a pharmaceutical company in 2000.
Yan has consistently denied any wrongdoing but struck a deal with the police as the final settlement of the civil case this year.
“In accordance with the settlement, the High Court has made assets forfeiture orders in respect of property to the total value of $42.85 million,” Detective Inspector Paul Hampton said in August.
“This is the single largest forfeiture in New Zealand to date and is the first that relates to crimes alleged to have occurred in China.”
The payment of nearly $43 million means the frozen property belonging to Zeng and her husband Shui Yong Huang was also released.