According to Reuters, the company had said in its filing, “There were likely violations of the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA.”
However, on Sunday night, the company released a statement saying media reports were “misleading and sensationalistic.”
Las Vegas-Review Journal reports that in its Form K-10 filing, the company had mentioned “As part of the annual audit of the company’s financial statements, the Audit Committee advised the company and its independent accountants that it had reached certain preliminary findings, including that there were likely violations of the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA.”
Speaking strictly, this is not a revelation, but an indication of the “preliminary” findings of the Audit Committee – something that would need further substantiation.
In its later statement on Sunday, the company said a Sunday New York Times headline was “inflammatory and defamatory,” in the way the paper depicted the news titling it “Casino Says it Likely Cheated.”
Media outlets across the country picked up on the news that was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, compelling the Las Vegas Sands to issue its statement observing, “The company said it will vigorously defend itself against that type of uninformed and misleading reporting.”
While Reuters reports that during the filing the company had said the issue would have no material impact on the company’s financial records and there would be no need to restate any past financial statements, shares of the Macau subsidiary of the company fell overnight by 1.5 percent.
