Three heavily edited videos of gaming magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun’s conversations with lawyer Gordon Oldham over the tumultuous past week were released yesterday by Oldham’s firm and uploaded to YouTube.
The videos, filmed inside Ho’s hilltop residence at 1 Repulse Bay Road, appear at times to shed light on the 89-year-old billionaire’s reactions to the ongoing battle among his four families, three surviving wives and 16 surviving children for control of the bulk of his fortune.
In the most recent, filmed late on Sunday morning, Ho appears to suggest he withdrew his lawsuit the previous day against family members accused of “improperly and/or illegally” seizing control of Lanceford, his main holding company, in exchange for their agreeing to voluntarily return the shares.
“I feel a little bit disappointed, because when they said they are willing to surrender all the shares back to me and asked me not to sue them, I agreed,” Ho tells Oldham in the video. “I said, ‘All right, I will give everyone a chance. We’ll call it a misunderstanding, so we can start afresh’.”
But some of Ho’s comments add to a growing list of contradictory statements - made on Ho’s behalf and signed by him - released by opposing family factions or leaked to the press over the past week.
In response, his daughter Pansy Ho Chiu-king released a statement late last night saying: “I was bewildered by what has occurred today, which clearly does not reflect the instructions our father Dr Stanley Ho expressed to us previously on various occasions in the presence of medical practitioners and lawyers. It is regrettable that this matter has been played out in the public arena.”
The three videos were filmed on January 25, 26 and 30 and featured about 15 minutes of edited footage from what Oldham said was several hours of conversation with Ho. At times, Angela Ho Chiu-yin, Ho’s daughter via his first wife, and Angela Leong On-kei, Ho’s fourth wife, can be heard conversing off camera or asking him questions.
The tycoon appears at times to be highly lucid, speaking clearly and even joking on occasion. But at other times he appears to struggle to enunciate his speech, and in several instances trails off mid-sentence.
Ho spent a long time in hospital after surgery in July 2009 to remove a blood clot from his brain. He was treated yesterday at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley for a routine procedure related to the breathing tube in his neck. He returned home in the evening.
The number of contradictory statements issued in the past week on Ho’s behalf via various sparring family factions means Ho’s true stance on matters often becomes unclear.
For example, a Chinese-language statement from Ho, issued early yesterday by PR firm Brunswick Group on behalf of Ho’s third wife and his five children and carrying Ho’s signature, was dated January 28.
It quoted Ho as saying: “There have never been any acts of ‘hijacking’, ‘robbery’, ‘fraudulent misappropriation’, or ‘breach of integrity’ ... The wordings used were never my intention, and were put forth by people with their own agenda and to arouse public attention.”
However, in video released yesterday by Oldham and filmed on January 25, the tycoon describes the transactions that saw him lose control of Lanceford as “something like robbery. Because I know nothing of it, and then I found out I signed something they forced me to sign”.
Ho’s lawsuit was filed by Oldham last Wednesday and accused Ho’s second wife, Lucina Laam King-ying, their five children (Pansy, Daisy, Maisy, Lawrence and Josie), his third wife Ina Chan Un Chan, and his long-time banker Patrick Huen Wing-ming of “improperly and/or illegally” seizing 99.98 per cent control of Lanceford.
Lanceford owns a controlling 31.6 per cent of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM). STDM holds a 56 per cent interest in Macau casino operator SJM Holdings - a stake worth around HK$40 billion.
Following the disputed share transaction last month that diluted Ho’s stake almost to zero, Lanceford is now owned by his third wife Chan and the five children of his second wife Laam.
Fourth wife Leong has an 8 per cent stake in SJM Holdings, but she and the children of Ho’s first wife, the late Clementina De Mello Leitao, appear to have been otherwise largely cut out of the picture.
Ho’s suit over Lanceford was filed hours after he appeared on local television on January 26, saying he would not be suing family members, calling for an end to the familial infighting and dismissing lawyer Oldham.
The Cantonese-language video footage from TVB showed Ho in a wheelchair reading from a large cue card in the home of third wife Chan.
In video released yesterday by Oldham that was filmed hours after the television appearance, Ho describes the incident by saying: “I must read word by word from the plaque my daughter made with the help of Pansy and Daisy.”
He is then asked by daughter Angela Ho, speaking off camera: “So you were under pressure?” To which Ho replies: “Under pressure.”
The following day, January 27, a meeting in Macau was held between fourth wife Leong, daughter (via his second wife) Pansy and daughter (via his first wife) Angela in an attempt to bring opposing familial factions to the negotiating table.
The Macau meeting “gave a chance for the respective parties to express their views, but the discussion did not lead to any conclusion nor consensus”, Pansy Ho said early yesterday morning in a statement issued by Brunswick.
Ho withdrew his suit on January 29. The next day, Ho told Oldham: “By today I should receive all the share scrip,” according to the video released yesterday.
“You should, but don’t count on it,” Oldham replied.
“Let us see,” Ho said.
Oldham then asked: “Anything else specific I should do?” Ho replied: “What you have done managed to scare them, change their minds, and they are willing to surrender.”
Oldham said yesterday he still acted for Ho and was hoping to meet him after he left hospital. He said the withdrawal of last week’s lawsuit did not preclude him from initiating new legal proceedings. “The matter will proceed until we reach a satisfactory resolution,” Oldham said.
2 comments:
Ho family rifts laid bare on YouTube
Videos detail sparring over tycoon’s empire
Neil Gough
01 February 2011
Three heavily edited videos of gaming magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun’s conversations with lawyer Gordon Oldham over the tumultuous past week were released yesterday by Oldham’s firm and uploaded to YouTube.
The videos, filmed inside Ho’s hilltop residence at 1 Repulse Bay Road, appear at times to shed light on the 89-year-old billionaire’s reactions to the ongoing battle among his four families, three surviving wives and 16 surviving children for control of the bulk of his fortune.
In the most recent, filmed late on Sunday morning, Ho appears to suggest he withdrew his lawsuit the previous day against family members accused of “improperly and/or illegally” seizing control of Lanceford, his main holding company, in exchange for their agreeing to voluntarily return the shares.
“I feel a little bit disappointed, because when they said they are willing to surrender all the shares back to me and asked me not to sue them, I agreed,” Ho tells Oldham in the video. “I said, ‘All right, I will give everyone a chance. We’ll call it a misunderstanding, so we can start afresh’.”
But some of Ho’s comments add to a growing list of contradictory statements - made on Ho’s behalf and signed by him - released by opposing family factions or leaked to the press over the past week.
In response, his daughter Pansy Ho Chiu-king released a statement late last night saying: “I was bewildered by what has occurred today, which clearly does not reflect the instructions our father Dr Stanley Ho expressed to us previously on various occasions in the presence of medical practitioners and lawyers. It is regrettable that this matter has been played out in the public arena.”
The three videos were filmed on January 25, 26 and 30 and featured about 15 minutes of edited footage from what Oldham said was several hours of conversation with Ho. At times, Angela Ho Chiu-yin, Ho’s daughter via his first wife, and Angela Leong On-kei, Ho’s fourth wife, can be heard conversing off camera or asking him questions.
The tycoon appears at times to be highly lucid, speaking clearly and even joking on occasion. But at other times he appears to struggle to enunciate his speech, and in several instances trails off mid-sentence.
Ho spent a long time in hospital after surgery in July 2009 to remove a blood clot from his brain. He was treated yesterday at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley for a routine procedure related to the breathing tube in his neck. He returned home in the evening.
The number of contradictory statements issued in the past week on Ho’s behalf via various sparring family factions means Ho’s true stance on matters often becomes unclear.
For example, a Chinese-language statement from Ho, issued early yesterday by PR firm Brunswick Group on behalf of Ho’s third wife and his five children and carrying Ho’s signature, was dated January 28.
It quoted Ho as saying: “There have never been any acts of ‘hijacking’, ‘robbery’, ‘fraudulent misappropriation’, or ‘breach of integrity’ ... The wordings used were never my intention, and were put forth by people with their own agenda and to arouse public attention.”
However, in video released yesterday by Oldham and filmed on January 25, the tycoon describes the transactions that saw him lose control of Lanceford as “something like robbery. Because I know nothing of it, and then I found out I signed something they forced me to sign”.
Ho’s lawsuit was filed by Oldham last Wednesday and accused Ho’s second wife, Lucina Laam King-ying, their five children (Pansy, Daisy, Maisy, Lawrence and Josie), his third wife Ina Chan Un Chan, and his long-time banker Patrick Huen Wing-ming of “improperly and/or illegally” seizing 99.98 per cent control of Lanceford.
Lanceford owns a controlling 31.6 per cent of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM). STDM holds a 56 per cent interest in Macau casino operator SJM Holdings - a stake worth around HK$40 billion.
Following the disputed share transaction last month that diluted Ho’s stake almost to zero, Lanceford is now owned by his third wife Chan and the five children of his second wife Laam.
Fourth wife Leong has an 8 per cent stake in SJM Holdings, but she and the children of Ho’s first wife, the late Clementina De Mello Leitao, appear to have been otherwise largely cut out of the picture.
Ho’s suit over Lanceford was filed hours after he appeared on local television on January 26, saying he would not be suing family members, calling for an end to the familial infighting and dismissing lawyer Oldham.
The Cantonese-language video footage from TVB showed Ho in a wheelchair reading from a large cue card in the home of third wife Chan.
In video released yesterday by Oldham that was filmed hours after the television appearance, Ho describes the incident by saying: “I must read word by word from the plaque my daughter made with the help of Pansy and Daisy.”
He is then asked by daughter Angela Ho, speaking off camera: “So you were under pressure?” To which Ho replies: “Under pressure.”
The following day, January 27, a meeting in Macau was held between fourth wife Leong, daughter (via his second wife) Pansy and daughter (via his first wife) Angela in an attempt to bring opposing familial factions to the negotiating table.
The Macau meeting “gave a chance for the respective parties to express their views, but the discussion did not lead to any conclusion nor consensus”, Pansy Ho said early yesterday morning in a statement issued by Brunswick.
Ho withdrew his suit on January 29. The next day, Ho told Oldham: “By today I should receive all the share scrip,” according to the video released yesterday.
“You should, but don’t count on it,” Oldham replied.
“Let us see,” Ho said.
Oldham then asked: “Anything else specific I should do?” Ho replied: “What you have done managed to scare them, change their minds, and they are willing to surrender.”
Oldham said yesterday he still acted for Ho and was hoping to meet him after he left hospital. He said the withdrawal of last week’s lawsuit did not preclude him from initiating new legal proceedings. “The matter will proceed until we reach a satisfactory resolution,” Oldham said.
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