A former senior EY partner alleged the firm turned a blind eye to organised crime ties at multiple gambling clients, including US-listed casino groups, and retaliated against him for raising the alarm.
A former Ernst & Young partner (EY), who worked in various roles for a 35-year stretch, has accused the firm of knowingly providing audit and compliance services to gambling clients with alleged links to transnational organised crime, including Chinese mafia figures controlling US-listed casino groups.
In a whistleblower lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York, Joe Howie claimed EY’s audit failures enabled criminal activity, money laundering and misleading investor disclosures to continue unchecked.
He further alleged the firm retaliated against him after he repeatedly flagged the risks internally and attempted to force compliance with professional and legal obligations.
Howie said he uncovered systemic failures across EY’s global operations from 2017 to 2024, including the firm’s relationship with a group of casino companies, collectively referred to in the complaint as the “Casino group registrants”, linked to $100bn in illegal activity.
The complaint claims EY issued clean audits for these clients despite their alleged ties to convicted criminals Alvin Chau and Levo Chan, junket bosses who operated high-roller VIP rooms connected to Triad syndicates.
The whistleblower also said EY’s internal risk assessments were manipulated or incomplete and that the...
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