A luxury flat in Mid-Levels, seized from the former lover of incarcerated Macau “junket king” Alvin Chau Cheok-wa, has been put up for sale albeit at a significant discount to its peak price as creditors seek to extract their dues.
Agents said the asking price of HK$90 million (US$11.5 million) for the Mid-Levels property, which was seized from Mandy Lieu by her creditors, is a third lower than what it could fetch in a bull market.
In 2021, casino operator Melco Resorts had sued Lieu for possession of the flat which she had mortgaged to the company. She had used the loan to bail Chau out of his financial problems, according to media reports.
Property agents Midland Realty, Centaline Properties and some individual brokers have displayed pictures of the interiors of the 2,123 sq ft flat on social media as they seek to attract buyers for the unit, which is located on the 38th floor of the Swire Properties’ Argenta development.
“The current asking price has dropped at least 30 per cent from the peak, which could be sold at around HK$80,000-90,000 per square foot,” said Joe Chan, chief senior account manager at Midland Realty’s West Mid-Level branch, adding that there was room for further price negotiations.
Local media reports said that Melco Resorts had earlier this year commissioned a foreign agent to find buyers for the flat.
Jailed Macau casino tycoon Alvin Chau makes plea to Xi Jinping for leniency
Jailed Macau casino tycoon Alvin Chau makes plea to Xi Jinping for leniency
Lieu bought the flat, located on 63 Seymour Road, for HK$91.33 million in 2014, according to online records provided by Midland Realty and Centaline Property.
Chau, the former CEO of Suncity Group, which was once considered the largest junket operator in Macau, is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence after being convicted in January of 162 charges of fraud, illegal gambling and criminal association, which resulted in a loss of HK$8.2 billion in tax revenue for the city’s government. He was initially arrested in late November 2021.
Junket operators play a vital role in extending credit in Macau casinos to high rollers from China, where gambling is illegal. They also collect their debt on behalf of casino operators.
Like many magnates and tycoons, details of Chau’s personal life often made headlines in tabloids, especially his extramarital affairs with model and actress Mandy Lieu, with whom he had four children.
Chau, 48, is also known as “Wash Rice Wa”, a moniker borrowed from a 1980s Cantonese sitcom character who shared his surname and good looks. He broke up with Lieu in 2019.
He recently lost an appeal against the judgment and wrote an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping calling for a “fair verdict”.
“President Xi, you are the greatest president in our country’s history and our spiritual leader,” he wrote. “I hope you can speak up for the innocent families. We just need a fair and normal verdict.”
