LOS ANGELES — A former top executive of major Las Vegas casinos was scheduled to appear before a federal judge Wednesday after admitting he allowed an illegal bookmaker to gamble millions of dollars at the MGM Grand and pay off debts in cash.
Scott Sibella pleaded guilty in January to violating federal anti-money laundering rules that require casinos to file suspicious transaction reports. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Following Sibella's guilty plea, MGM Grand and nearby Las Vegas Cosmopolitan settled a related money laundering investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The resorts agreed to pay a combined $7.45 million, submit to an external review and step up their compliance programs.
Sibella's attorneys, Jeffrey Rutherford in Los Angeles and John Spilotro in Las Vegas, sought leniency and probation from U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles. They submitted letters of testimony in support to the judge on Friday, including one from Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill, the elected chief of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Rutherford and Spilotro did not respond to email messages from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The bookmaker at the center of Sibella's case, Wayne Nix, is a former minor league baseball player living in Newport Coast, California. He is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in April 2022 to operating an illegal gambling business and filing a false tax return.
According to his plea agreement with the government, Sibella allowed Nix to gamble at MGM Grand and affiliated properties with illegal proceeds generated from the illegal gambling activities without notifying the casinos' compliance department.
Sibella told federal investigators in January 2022 “that he 'had heard Nix was in the booking business' and that he 'couldn't figure out how he got all the money he gambled with.'”
“I didn't want to know because of my position,” Sibella told investigators. “I'm staying out of it. If we know, we can't let them gamble. “I didn't ask, I didn't want to know, probably because he didn't do anything to defraud the casino.”
Sibella served as president and chief operating officer of the MGM Grand for eight years and then as president of Resorts World Las Vegas until 2023. Federal prosecutors say Ippei Mizuhara, the former Los Angeles Dodgers interpreter Shohei Ohtani, transferred the money he stole from the Japanese superstar to Resorts World in a scheme to pay off debts to illegal bookmakers. Sibella is not involved in that case, which is also part of the broad federal investigation into sports gambling.
In addition, Nevada casino regulators are considering revoking or suspending Sibella's state gambling license and fining him up to $750,000. A complaint filed April 30 by State Gaming Control Board investigators has not yet been processed by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
Sibella held top positions at The Mirage and Treasure Island casinos on the Las Vegas Strip before becoming president of the 6,800-plus-room MGM Grand in 2011. He left the company in February 2019 and joined Resorts World Las Vegas before Malaysia-based Genting Group opened the $4.3 billion, 66-story resort in June 2021.
He was fired by Resorts World in September 2023 after the company said he “violated company policies and terms of employment.”
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Ritter reported from Las Vegas.
