One of the drawbacks to life is that it contains moments when one is compelled to tell the truth.
— P. G. Wodehouse, who died in 1975
Bound by the “stunning returns from their Asian casinos and their shared experience of being raised by a domineering father”, the men were friends, confidantes and business partners, so close they referred to each other as “brother”.
During a lucrative joint venture that lasted 11 years, Mr Packer’s Crown Resorts and Mr Ho’s Melco Resorts built a casino business in Macau and Manila that earned Crown roughly $4.5 billion.
Packer wanted a new casino, so Alan Jones set up a lunch with the premier. The rest is history
Page 92 of volume one of the Bergin report into Crown’s planned gambling mecca for Sydney, released in the past week, gives a sweet insight into how casino business is done in this country.
“In around February 2012 Mr James Packer met with then NSW Premier Mr Barry O’Farrell OA, at the home of media identity Mr Alan Jones,” the inquiry report reads. “Mr Packer outlined his vision to build a $1 billion-plus hotel, casino and entertainment complex at Barangaroo. Later in February 2012 concept plans for a state-of-the-art, 350 room hotel and casino at Barangaroo were released to the media.”
Business journalist Damon Kitney’s book on James Packer, The Price of Fortune, offers more detail. The meeting took place at Jones’ pied-a-terre in the controversial “toaster” building at Circular Quay, nestled next to the Opera House. Visitors to the apartment were generally greeted in the lobby by Jones’ butler, David, and then ushered upstairs to a couch studded with Versace throw cushions.
Washington Post, Now Out of Office, Trump May Have to Face Tax Questions:
Once his impeachment trial concludes and former president Donald Trump returns to his business, he will face some obvious challenges, such as declining real estate income and investigationsfrom New York authorities.
Up to a Million People Fleeing Hong Kong Might Suit China Just Fine Bloomberg
Cameras in neckties and shoebrushes: Soviet spycraft goes under the hammer in Los Angeles
Countless Cold War spy items went under the hammer in Los Angeles following the closure of the KGB Espionage Museum
Andrés Báez (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Google Scholar) & Yariv Brauner (Florida; Google Scholar), Taxing the Digital Economy Post BEPS ... Seriously, 58 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 121 (2019)
MI6 recruiting foreign-born spies for first time to improve diversity
Iranian nuclear scientist killed by one-ton automated gun in Israeli hit Reuters
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Voluntary JobKeeper repayments reach $50m: ATO
Officials from the Australian Taxation Office told federal Parliament’s COVID-19 inquiry that JobKeeper’s growing price tag had hit $83 billion as of February 1, but the number of firms opting to make voluntary repayments was not large.
ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says the level of compliance with the JobKeeper rules has been “extraordinarily high”. Alex Ellinghausen
About 500,000 businesses are currently receiving the coronavirus wage subsidy, which is supporting about 1.6 million jobs.
Tax Office second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn told Labor senator and inquiry chairwoman Katy Gallagher that firms had approached the ATO over about $50 million in planned repayments. To date, less than $10 million had been received.
Toyota Australia and Mineral sands miner Iluka Resources are among firms opting to repay JobKeeper funds, moves praised by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
A royal abuse of political power
The revelations this week by The Guardian UK of the Queen’s secret intervention in political matters to protect her personal fortune are simply extraordinary. New documents from the UK Archives set out in excruciating detail the power of the monarch to vet legislation in her own interests. Under the guise of exercising the arcane ‘royal consent’, long considered a mere formality taken only on ministerial advice, the Queen and Prince Charles can secretly alter any Act that might affect the monarch personally. This they have done with alacrity.