Felony charge against Mirage worker reduced

By Liz Benston (contact)

Monday, July 28, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

A former Mirage hotel-casino employee has agreed to a negotiated settlement with the attorney general's office involving the casino's failure to file nearly 15,000 anti-money laundering reports.

At a hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court Friday, former Mirage compliance officer Christopher Morishita said he would waive his right to a preliminary hearing and would also plead guilty for not filing the reports in exchange for a reduced sentence.

In an affidavit released by the attorney general's office, Morishita admitted he avoided filing the reports to the federal government and lied to supervisors to hide the fact. Failure to process the reports, required of all casinos that generate larger cash transactions from gamblers, is a felony that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Under the terms of the settlement, Morishita's felony charge will be reduced to a gross misdemeanor and he will be sentenced to three years of probation. His case will be referred from Justice Court to Clark County District Court, where he will be arraigned Aug. 13.

Morishita and his public defender could not be reached for further comment.

During the probationary period, Morishita will not be allowed to hold any casino gambling-related position and will be required to disclose his conviction to potential employers who have a state gaming license.

The reduced charge still presents a strong deterrent against reporting mistakes, prosecutor and Chief Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Quillin said.

"It sends a strong message to employees in the industry," Quillin said. "I think the punishment fits the crime."

The attorney general's office has "absolutely zero" evidence that Morishita -- who had filled out the required forms but had simply failed to drop them in the mail -- was engaged in a money-laundering scheme, Quillin said. The fact that he had never been in trouble with the law before also was a mitigating factor, she said.

Morishita is the first person to be prosecuted under Regulation 6A, the state law governing money-laundering reports.

He will be closely monitored by probation officers, who will have access to his home, Quillin said. He also will be required to check in monthly with probation officials and get their permission before he can leave the state, she said.

If Morishita violates the terms of his probation, he could face from one to five years of jail time under the terms of the original felony charge.

"That's the hammer that's hanging over his head," Quillin said.

Mirage parent MGM MIRAGE agreed in May to pay Nevada gaming regulators a $5 million fine for failing to file the reports -- the largest single fine against a Nevada casino in state history.

The attorney general's office has confined its criminal probe to Morishita and doesn't anticipate prosecuting any other individuals in connection with the Mirage reporting violations, Quillin said.

Regulators and MGM MIRAGE officials have taken the matter seriously and "will not let it happen again, I'm sure," she said.

While the attorney general's complaint aimed to determine the extent of the cover-up, Morishita's motives haven't yet been made public. MGM MIRAGE officials have called Morishita's oversight a "clerical error," saying he simply fell far behind in mailing off the reports.

Quillin has declined to discuss specific explanations offered by Morishita for his failure to file the reports.

The state's chief concern is prosecuting Morishita under the reporting laws and not proving motive, which isn't a requirement in a criminal case, she said.

Separately, the Gaming Control Board is investigating Station Casinos Inc. for irregularities relating to the filing of anti-money laundering reports at the company's Santa Fe Station casino. Station Casinos, which has publicly acknowledged the errors, alerted regulators in April. That investigation is ongoing, said Quillin, who declined to discuss the case further.

Also in April, Park Place Entertainment Corp. agreed to pay a $75,000 fine to Nevada regulators to settle a complaint that employees in the company's Dallas branch office deliberately avoided filing the required reports to appease "good customers."