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Former Mirage Official to Receive Three Years Probation With Provisos

LAS VEGAS -- A former Mirage official agreed Friday to a negotiated settlement of four criminal charges involving the company's failure to file almost 15,000 required anti-money laundering reports.

Christopher Morishita, 33, the former anti-money laundering compliance officer for The Mirage, admitted he deliberately failed to file the required cash transaction reports over an 18-month period and lied to his supervisors to cover up his actions. He also agreed to waive his right to a preliminary hearing.

Under the terms of the negotiated settlement, his case will be referred to District Court where Morishita will be arraigned Aug. 13 and sentenced to three years of probation and certain "special conditions."

Chief Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Quillin, who prosecuted the case, said the conditions include not being permitted to have any position or direct responsibility for gaming devices and being required to inform any employer who is a gaming licensee that he has pleaded guilty to this offense and that he is on probation.

Quillin said the settlement, combined with the $5 million fine imposed on MGM Mirage by the Nevada Gaming Commission, "sends a strong message to the employees of the industry that they need to do their jobs or there will be serious repercussions."

She said although Morishita's conviction will be reduced to a gross misdemeanor if he meets the conditions of the probation, he still has had to do time in jail, and he is being punished and and held accountable.

"(Both) public officials and MGM Mirage officials are taking the case very seriously and will not let it happen again, I'm sure," Quillin said.

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said, "(The company has) undertaken an extraordinary investigation of the handling of the documents and has implemented new internal controls to make sure it is not possible (for it) to happen again."

Not everyone was as upbeat about the out-of-court settlement.

Las Vegas professor and casino gambling expert Bill Thompson said it is "regrettable" that under the plea "arrangement, the public may never know what actually happened and the public needs assurances bad deeds will not keep being done."

"The situation is not unlike the assurance we're now trying to give the Iraqi people. And that's what the people need here, an assurance the future is going to be clean," he said.

"There needs to be a full public accounting of what happened to make sure gaming is clean, it won't happen again and the industry isn't getting hammered by the federal government," Thompson.

No public report has been issued on the case and Gaming Control Board chairman Dennis Neilander could not be reached to comment on the possibility the state would issue a public report on the case.

Quillin said the MGM Mirage case is the first prosecution under Regulation 6A which requires that reports are filed with the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crime Network and are used to track large cash transactions by individuals in casinos.

Gaming industry insiders have warned that if the penalties imposed in the case are seen as insufficient, the U.S. Treasury secretary could cancel a memorandum of understanding with Nevada exempting it from federal control of the currency regulations on 30 days notice.

Until 1997, the cash transaction reports were submitted directly to the Gaming Control Board, but since then, at the request of the Internal Revenue Service, reports have been filed directly with the Treasury Department, which makes copies available electronically to the state. In exchange, state regulators are allowed to regulate compliance with the regulations and approve penalties for violations.

Quillin said no further prosecutions are expected in the MGM Mirage case, but that the investigation into similar violations by Stations Casinos is ongoing.

The Gaming Control Board in April launched an investigation into Station Casinos for failing to file anti-money laundering reports with the federal government.

Station Casinos and its employees, like MGM Mirage, could face civil penalties and criminal prosecution, depending on the outcome of the investigation.

Control Board chief enforcement officer Keith Copher said the investigation is continuing and he had no idea when it might finish. He also said no additional no other investigation are under way.

In court Friday, Morishita told Judge Court Judge Charles Paine he understood the charges, the negotiated settlement and the agreement to waive his right to a preliminary hearing.

If Morishita violates the terms of his agreement or faces any other charges, even a driving under the influence charge, Quillin said he would face up to five years in prison and $50,000 in fines.

However, should he meet the terms of the probation, the state has agreed the charges will be converted to gross misdemeanor charges so there will be no felony conviction on Morishita's record.

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