Alvin Chau

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Alvin Chau Cheok-wa
周焯華
Born	(1974-05-30) May 30, 1974 (age 52) Macau
Other name	Sai Mai-wa
Occupation	Businessman/mafia
Spouses	Yang Su-mei Heidi Chan ​ (m. 2002)​
Partner	Mandy Lau (2014-2019)
Children	7

Alvin Chau Cheok-wa (Chinese: 周焯華; Jyutping: zau1 coek3 waa4), nicknamed Sai Mai-wa (Chinese: 洗米華; lit. 'wash rice Wah'), is a Macanese-born businessman and founder of Suncity Group.

Career

Chau is the founder and CEO of Suncity, the largest junket operator in Macau.^: 303 At times, the company controlled almost 50% of the VIP gaming business in Macau.^: 303

Chau is a former member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's Guangdong Provincial Committee.

Prosecution

On November 28, 2021, Chau was arrested on a warrant issued by the city of Wenzhou.^: 302 The arrest warrant was based on allegations of illegal cross-border casino operations and money laundering.^: 302 Along with Chau, ten alleged accomplices were arrested.^: 302 Within a week of Chau's arrest, Suncity closed all of its VIP rooms in Macau.^: 302

He was convicted in January 2023 of leading a criminal syndicate, and running illegal gambling and fraud operations, and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Law enforcement authorities around the world have continued to uncover Chau's vast connections to some of southeast Asia's most prolific drug trafficking and cyber-enabled fraud networks, among other criminal groups, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

References