Alleged Former Hakkasan Investor Entangled in Major Arab Money Laundering Investigation

Neil Moffit, through his attorney wanted to make clear of the following things:
– He personally is not involved in any investigation, nor is the target of any investigation.
– The company itself (Hakkasan) isn’t under investigation.
– Khadem al Qubaisi is no longer the chairman of the company or personally affiliated with the company at this time
– Moffit is not stepping down from Hakkasan and has no plan to.
– Hakkasan is “highly” profitable and needs no outside investment

We want to make clear that all allegations are nothing more than allegations.

Not so good news for Hakkasan’s Former Alleged Investor, who has been under a lot of scrutiny lately, and  currently unsubstantiated* rumors flying left and right about the founder Neil Moffit leaving the company, to Federal Investigators looking into the company’s finances. However, today the rumors seem to have come to a head, with the FBI and Department of Justice and FBI issuing international warrants for people connected to the company through investments and possibly even management

Robin Leach even posted yesterday that there was going to be a major shakeup of the nightlife industry, with three execs stepping down.

While the story is complex is essentially about Billions of Dollars that were stolen from a Malaysian Development Fund. Investigators believe that the money was stolen by several individuals and then laundered through both real estate and corporate investments in the United States and other places.

One of those places, it is alleged, is through Hakkasan’s alleged former owner Khadem al Qubaisi.

A full account of how the money may have been laundered to Hakkasan can be found here.

BusinessInsider also notes that Neil Moffitt is trying to quickly get rid of one of the most expensive apartments in New York, by dropping the price almost 1/3. * Read Note.

According to the New York Post, this could be the world’s largest money laundering scandal, and has done an extensive profile of one of the people involved.

This comes only months after rumors that Hakkasan was trying to sell many of the assets that they bought, since their investors were no longer paying the bills. According to VegasTripping.com:

Rumors are swirling that Hakkasan is looking to divest itself from portions of their acquisition of The Light Group from Morgans Hotel Group. The original deal, which was announced in December 2014, outlined that Morgans would sell 90% of TLG assets to Hakkasan Group for $36 million smackers, a black 1976 Les Paul Custom three pickup, a future draft choice and a mustard-stained copy of Tim’s book. The deal was expected to close pretty quickly – January 2015 (except for the book, which apparently arrived today.

Alex Cordova, one of the founders of Hakkasan in the United States, announced this month he was leaving the company, and recently took a new job with a competitor.

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4/2/2016  Additional info can be found about the former alleged owner’s connection to money laundering via this search
4/2/2016 Hakkasan’s former alleged investor Owner Behind Purchase of Walker Tower + Money Laundering Investigation
4/2/2016 Hakkasan’s former alleged investor Owner+Arrest Warrant

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4/2/2016 – Hakkasan’s Legal Affairs Wanted to me to make it clear the rumors from VegasTripping of Moffitt Leaving are unverified, unsubstantiated. I am willing to make that change, because I did note it was a rumor.  They want me to note that Hakkasan wasn’t selling properties because of their bills, and this is also unsubstantiated. Of course, as I mentioned, these are rumors. However, since the former alleged OWNER of Hakkasan (identified in numerous sources) is the target of the investigation, I stand by this story.
4/2/2016 – Moffit’s personal attorney contacted me, to say Moffit does not in fact own this apartment. The press is reporting as such, but we have struck out.