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A German banker is part of a brand new trend of high-dollar gambling thefts

It is nothing new to hear about people stealing money in purchase to spend it on gambling. But, it’s rare that the theft ever gets this big. A 39-year-old bank that is german was accused of stealing over €8 million ($10.6 million) from customers, which then he spent at casinos within the program of a long period.

Stole Undetected for Years from Customers

According to your charges, the man works in Buxtehude, a Northern Germany town that is a suburb of Hamburg. No fewer than 156 times over the course of more than three years spanning between 2007 and 2010 the man stole money from customers’ accounts. He additionally directly took money which had been directed at him by customers to invest. Based on prosecutors speaking in Stade District Court, the man even faked customer signatures on several occasions to be able to achieve access for their money.

The amounts stolen varied greatly from customer to client. At some times, he took only several hundred euros; in the most dramatic cases, several hundred thousand euros had been taken away from accounts at the same time.

As a whole, €8.4 million ($11.1 million) was removed of client accounts on the years. That money was then mostly spent at a local casino in Hamburg.

According to prosecutors, the unnamed man had already paid back €4.5 million ($6 million), though the remaining portion of the money is still outstanding.

One of the primary secrets in the case is precisely how the banker managed to steal such large sums of money for years without being detected. According to reports, many associated with the man’s former co-workers are going to be called as witnesses in an attempt to spell out this, in addition to clarify just the way the schemes worked.

‘Gambling Addict’ Defense

That said, prosecutors are unlikely to manage much resistance when it comes down to the actual facts regarding the case. Instead, solicitors for the defense are expected to argue that the defendant was a gambling addict, which may reduce his criminal culpability.

This would not be an unusual defense in a case such as this one. According to the United states Psychiatric Association, acts such as these are thought one of the key signs of problem gambling. In particular, stealing funds would fit into two of the symptoms often used to diagnose a gambling issue, including ‘illegal acts’ and risking a significant relationship, which includes the potential loss of the job.

While gambling problems rarely have to the stage of stealing millions, gambling-related theft has resulted in several high-profile cases worldwide. In recent weeks, there are tales about a man that is australian stole $200,000 from his child’s kindergarten association before being caught. Earlier this year, an employer at a Barclays Bank in England stole £127,000 ($196,000) to pay back her gambling debts. And a Tampa, Florida woman was convicted earlier in 2010 of gambling away her in-laws’ whole half-million dollar retirement fund before being caught and charged. She is currently serving a sentence that is five-year her crimes.

The defendant in this instance is facing several costs, including fraud, breach of trust, and falsification of documents. He could face several years in prison if he is found guilty. His trial is likely to continue latest this month, with a verdict to be handed straight down month that is sometime next.

Roadblocks to Vietnam Gambling Developments Have Critics Skeptical

Can casinos on Vietnam’s brand new Ho Tram Strip create destination gambling?

It is no secret that Asia is considered the biggest growth market in the casino industry. Macau is, of program, the gambling hub that is biggest in the world, while Singapore and also the Philippines have become prized destinations for gambling developers since well. Also Russia has become determined to place casinos on its Asian borders so that you can money in on the marketplace.

Can Vietnam Have What It Takes?

Now, the nation of Vietnam has hopes of becoming the following destination that is major the Asian gambling world. However, numerous experts feel that the country is not quite willing to see the gambling results enjoyed by its more successful next-door neighbors.

To ensure, Vietnam already has casino gambling. There are now six casinos in the nation, including the Grand that is new Ho Strip, which just opened in Vung Tau. It was part of a new tourist development that cost more than $4 billion to create and which is designed to attract foreign visitors.

But industry experts say that there are many reasons why Vietnam will struggle to attract the kind of gambling tourism other Asian countries have enjoyed.

One issue that is major the minimum investment limit required to build in Vietnam. In both Macau and Singapore, there’s no minimum investment required: if you can fund a project, you may get it done, regardless if it is tiny in scale. The Philippines possesses $1 billion threshold, but that only exists for projects in Manila; somewhere else in the country, no minimal investment exists.

Huge Investment Needs Are Deterrent

But in Vietnam, there’s a minimum investment of about $4 billion on casino projects. It is a prohibitive cost for developers: even though many international casino companies are very interested in building in Vietnam, the fee is just excessive for what is like an uncertain market. The investment looks more dangerous when considering that Vietnam like many nations in the region bars its citizens that are own entering gambling enterprises, meaning they are for foreign gamblers only.

Even worse, it appears as though Vietnam’s regulatory framework is murky at best.

‘On top of the lack of a critical mass market, Vietnam does not have a proper gaming regulatory environment yet,’ said Ben Lee, a managing partner at a management and consulting firm in Singapore. ‘Why would banks lend to massive projects once the developers can’t also show the documentation that is right regards to licenses [or] ability to transfer funds?’

The Vietnamese federal government had hoped that the casinos would help drive tourism. But so far, they have failed to largely impact the nation’s tourism industry, that has minimized their benefits to your provincial governments who had hoped they’d offer both jobs and profits.

A lack of interaction has additionally been a major issue. In a single current case, provincial officials in Ha Giang announced that investors could submit bids for a casino project on Dong Van Plateau. But later, higher-level officials said that they had no information in regards to a casino project in the area.

‘Sometimes neighborhood authorities take any project proposition without consideration of its sustainability,’ stated Trinh Le Nguyen, executive director of the local conservation team.

One move that could attract more investment would be a change in legislation allowing Vietnamese gamblers to participate in local gambling enterprises. In reality, that is exactly what some international operators have been lobbying for, as Vietnam has a population of 90 million with a strong gambling culture. But up to now, the government that is vietnamese been moving within the other direction, recently passing a law that will fine casinos the maximum amount of as $9,500 if they allow locals into their venues.

Steve Wynn Donates $25 Million to Vision Research

Steve Wynn has made a vision research donation that is major

He may be the most famous practically blind businessman in the world, and now he will donate a sizable chunk of his success to ensure that others similarly afflicted might be able to see better.

Anticipating

Casino mogul Steve Wynn announced he’s donating $25 million to the University of Iowa’s Institute for Vision Research recently at a situation board of regents meeting in Ames, and the university says the gift that is massive be used to fund research towards a cure for unusual, inherited retinal diseases such as for instance retinitis pigmentosa, from which Wynn himself has experienced for several years, and which includes kept the 71-year-old impresario almost entirely sightless. Wynn’s particular eyesight disorder primarily causes evening blindness and poor vision that is peripheral.

The Iowa institute will be renamed for Wynn as is often the custom following huge donations. The $25 million will be paid out over a span that is five-year. Wynn’s personal battles with vision obviously affected their choice of recipients.

‘As a person who knows firsthand what it really is prefer to lose vision from a rare eye that is inherited, i’d like doing everything I can to help others who are similarly affected keep the vision they have and finally reunite whatever they have lost,’ said Wynn, who continues as president and CEO of Wynn Resorts Ltd.

Wynn told the regents that with clinical progress continuing, he forsees the ‘prospect of getting a cure is possible and likely for the short term and certain into the long term.’

Institute Renamed

The newly renamed Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision analysis is considered a leader in genetic testing for eye disease, and prior to Wynn’s present, had an operational annual budget of $12 million. The Institute says it is working towards developing gene and stem cell therapies that might some day be able to restore vision in humans with 30 faculty members and 100 additional research staff. The bulk of testing is performed on animals; for vision, rabbits are typically used for research and then destroyed as with most scientific research. Many argue that these animals are employed perhaps not since they’re easily bred for laboratories and are docile in a laboratory environment because they are the most efficacious, but simply.

Wynn’s ties to the Iowa instutute are connected via his very own foundation’s manager, Steve Dezii, who has colleagues that are many the science and research community, and that features Iowa’s director, Ed Stone. (Wynn’s own mater that is alma University of Pennsylvania). Dezii says he believes that Wynn’s gift could lead to scientific breakthroughs, particularly for what are termed ‘orphan disorders’: diseases that only affect a few hundred individuals yearly, therefore seldom getting much attention from the media or science.

‘ We would like to … translate that money into effective remedies as fast as we can,’ Dezii said. ‘ Time is our enemy that is worst.’

Wynn was first diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in 1971.

Besides being exactly what many consider to function as orchestrator of modern-day Vegas via properties like the Golden Nugget, the Mirage therefore the Bellagio (which are all under different ownership now), Wynn was named one of Time Magazine‘s planet’s 100 Most Influential People in play more chilli slot online free 2006.

German Banker Accused of Stealing Millions to Fund Gambling Habit