KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 14): Genting Malaysia Bhd (KL:GENM) said its unit in the US has been named in a complaint filed by RAV Bahamas Ltd in the US District Court Southern District of Florida.

The complaint, filed on Oct 7, named GenM’s indirect wholly owned subsidiary Genting Americas Inc, which is involved in the operations of Resorts World Bimini (RW Bimini) in the Bahamas, of which RAV Bahamas is seeking damages of more than US$600 million (RM2.57 billion), according to its filing to Bursa Malaysia on Monday. 

The casino operator, however, did not elaborate on the damages that were filed by the plaintiff.

RW Bimini is owned and operated by BB Entertainment Ltd, in which GenM indirectly holds a 78% stake, while RAV Bahamas holds the remaining 22% stake. Genting Americas, which is incorporated in Delaware in the US, is an affiliate company of BB Entertainment.  

“Genting Americas is of the view that the complaint is baseless and totally without merit and will vigorously defend against the complaint,” GenM said.

GenM said that it will make further announcements when there are material developments on the above matter, it added.

RAV Bahamas in its lawsuit claimed that Genting Americas has turned the RW Bimini project into a “financial wasteland” by dumping onto it almost a billion dollars in debt, Bahamas’ news portal The Tribune reported on Oct 9.

“To date, BB Entertainment has not distributed any profits to RAV from this venture because Genting Americas, who controls BB Entertainment’s finances, has used BB Entertainment as its financial wasteland,” the report said, citing the lawsuit filed by RAV Bahamas.

“Through its stranglehold over BB Entertainment and its finances, Genting Americas has used BB Entertainment to conceal a medley of fraudulent activities,” it said.

RW Bimini has consistently incurred annual losses amounting to tens of millions of dollars since RAV Bahamas partnered with Genting Americas in 2012, the news portal said, citing BB Entertainment’s financial statements.

Meanwhile, BB Entertainment’s auditor Ernst & Young (EY) has also expressed its material uncertainty related to the group's ability to continue as a going concern, as the group incurred a net loss of US$151.28 million during the year ended Dec 31, 2022.

BB Entertainment also recorded a US$114.2 million loss in 2021 and US$105.6 million loss in 2020. By end-2022 the operating entity had accrued liabilities of US$885.2 million.

Shares of GenM were traded eight sen or 3.4% lower at RM2.27 at 3.38pm, valuing the group at RM13.48 billion.