https://igamingbusiness.com/money-laundering/hard-rock-suspends-pariente-amid-aml-allegations/

As Hard Rock International mobilises its bid for a lucrative New York City casino licence, the North American casino giant has suspended a prominent executive amid allegations of money laundering at one of the largest gambling resorts in the Caribbean.

Hard Rock has suspended Alex Pariente, the company’s senior vice president for hotel and casino operations, weeks after explosive claims from a whistleblower of an alleged structuring scheme at Hard Rock Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

The whistleblower, a federal informant, accused Pariente of allowing a bevy of illegal bookmakers to gamble at the resort, including Matt Bowyer, a Southern California bookie awaiting sentencing on federal money laundering charges. Bowyer is known mostly for accepting approximately $325 million in illegal sports wagers from Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani.

“Hard Rock International is aware of the allegations involving one of our executives and is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness,” the company wrote in a statement. “Honesty and integrity are core values of our organization, and we hold all team members — regardless of their role — to the highest ethical standards.”

The suspension was first reported by the New York Post Monday morning. Pariente has been suspended without pay pending results of an investigation, the Post reported.

Deep experience in the Caribbean

While Pariente has been based in South Florida for nearly seven years, he has extensive experience in the Caribbean. Shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic, Pariente spent 10 months at Nexus, an international hospitality real estate development and asset management company located in Nassau. The Bahamas company is backed by Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Justin Timberlake, according to Pariente’s LinkedIn bio.

Prior to that, Pariente spent 13 months as executive vice president of casino operations & marketing at Baha Mar, a 1,000-acre resort complex located on the Bahamas island of New Providence. Pariente joined Baha Mar in 2017 after a short stint at Hard Rock Punta Cana. There, he served as chief gaming officer at the largest casino resort in the Dominican Republic.

#HardRock Informed of Alex Pariente’s Money Misdeeds in 2020, Says 2nd #Whistleblower@etfgodfatherhttps://t.co/vN97K6jJrc

— Casino.org (@Casino_Org) June 29, 2025

The Post broke Monday’s story several weeks after Casino.org published a detailed expose alleging a series of transgressions by the executive tied to overseeing the Punta Cana casino.

Pariente did not respond to a call from iGB on Monday seeking comment.

High rollers in Punta Cana

Among the most serious allegations, Pariente is said to have knowingly allowed several illegal bookies, including Bowyer, to gamble at the casino, Casino.org reported. The allegations were made by R.J. Cipriani, a federal informant in a joint Las Vegas-Southern California investigation that has ensnared several major illegal bookmakers.

By his own admission, Bowyer ran one of the nation’s largest illegal sports betting rings before the FBI raided his Orange County home in October 2023.

In that year, Bowyer accumulated net losses of approximately $13 million, he said this month when interviewed this month on the StraitJacket podcast.

At his peak, Bowyer took action from more than 700 clients, most notably Mizuhara. Mizuhara, the disgraced interpreter, received a 57-month sentence in February for embezzling approximately $17 million from Ohtani.

Along with his own affinity for placing multi-million wagers on sports, Bowyer also bet heavily on numerous table games, according to sources. The bookmaker played high-stakes blackjack at the resort on at least one occasion, multiple sources told iGB.

Efforts to contact Bowyer on Monday were unsuccessful.

Explaining structuring

A violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, structuring is a technique employed by criminals to evade anti-money laundering regulations. Structuring is an integral element in the initial phase of a laundering cycle. In virtually every case, structuring involves breaking a large deposit into smaller tranches to bypass detection.

The Post identified one allegation previously reported by Casino.org. At one point, a Hard Rock employee accepted a $100,000 deposit from a Chinese national. According to reports, the customer apparently lacked the requisite sources of funds to meet AML standards on the island. Instead, the employee divided the entire sum into 33 separate tranches of around $3,000 each. The practise is a violation of Dominican law against money laundering.

Potential implications in the Big Apple

Hard Rock is among eight applicants bidding for a downstate casino in the New York City metropolitan area. The company is partnering with Mets owner Steve Cohen to bring a multi-billion casino resort to the area surrounding Citi Field. Hard Rock submitted its bid before last month’s deadline.

Hard Rock Metropolitan Park, an $8 billion project, is replete with a live entertainment venue, a convention center, retail areas and a 1,000-room hotel. A spokesman for Hard Rock International did not respond to multiple inquiries from iGB on Monday for comment.

An executive summary for Steve Cohen and Hard Rock's $8 billion Metropolitan Park downstate NY casino application projects via a third-party report from a gaming industry advisory firm to generate $33.5 billion in total tax revenue over 30 years.

— Mike Mazzeo (@MazzNYC) July 3, 2025

Two other bidders, MGM Resorts and Resorts World, operate subsidiaries that reached settlements with the Nevada Gaming Commission this spring over AML violations. Nevada regulators issued a $10.5 million fine against Resorts World Las Vegas in March, weeks before approving an $8.5 million settlement with MGM Resorts.

The Resorts World Las Vegas settlement pertains to anti-money laundering deficiencies related to dealings with several illegal bookmakers, including Bowyer. The NGC revoked former MGM Grand President Scott Sibella’s license last December.

The penalties against MGM Resorts center on AML failings related to Sibella’s association with Wayne Nix, another illegal bookmaker in the case. After leaving MGM Grand, Sibella joined RWLV in a similar capacity.