{"id":858,"date":"2025-06-30T00:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T00:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=858"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:10:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:10:25","slug":"hard-rock-suspends-pariente-commences-internal-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/30\/hard-rock-suspends-pariente-commences-internal-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard Rock Suspends Pariente, Commences Internal Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Hard Rock suspends executive without paying following allegations of money structuring, unpaid markers<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Emails to higher-ups from gaming industry insider may have been tipping point<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Hard Rock International announced today that it suspended executive Alex Pariente without pay pending an internal investigation into allegations he permitted money structuring practices and allowed credit markers to go unpaid at a casino resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_356216\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-356216\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-356216 size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Alex Pariente\" width=\"858\" height=\"483\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AP3-858x483-1.jpg\"><figcaption>Alex Pariente at the Brazilian Gaming Congress in 2019. Hard Rock has suspended the executive without pay pending an internal investigation into allegations he engaged in money structuring and let markers go unpaid. (Image: YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-exec-pariente-let-markers-go-unpaid-took-bookies-action-say-sources\/\">Wednesday, June 25<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-informed-of-pariente-money-misdeeds-in-2020-says-whistleblower\/\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">Friday, June 27<\/a> <em>Casino.org<\/em> published articles citing multiple whistleblowers that have firsthand knowledge of Pariente\u2019s alleged misdeeds at the Dominican gaming venue. Those accusations include a scenario in which an employee, at Pariente\u2019s behest, took a $100,000 from a Chinese gambler without proof of funds and potentially skirted reporting protocols by depositing those funds in the bettor\u2019s account over dozens of smaller transactions. To its credit, Hard Rock International is making clear it\u2019s aware of the accusations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Hard Rock International is aware of the allegations involving one of our executives and is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness,\u201d according to a statement provided to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\">Casino.org<\/a><\/em> by the gaming company. \u201cHonesty and integrity are core values of our organization, and we hold all team members\u2014regardless of their role\u2014to the highest ethical standards.\u00a0 Hard Rock does not tolerate any conduct that compromises the trust placed in us by our guests, partners, or team members. The employee in question has been suspended without pay pending an internal investigation into this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hard Rock International is the gaming unit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and there are about a dozen casinos in the US bearing that brand name.<\/p>\n<h2>Emails May Have Prompted Pariente Suspension<\/h2>\n<p>Large corporations, of which Hard Rock is one, are often deliberative when it comes to human resources decisions pertaining to high-ranking executives so it\u2019s not surprising Pariente didn\u2019t face immediate repercussions immediately following the <em>Casino.org<\/em> articles.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>The tipping point may have been emails sent this weekend by R.J. Cipriani, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/robinhood702\">also known as Robin Hood 702<\/a>, to high-level Hard Rock executives, including CEO Jim Allen. Cipriani\u2019s messages, which he provided to <em>Casino.org<\/em>, included the audio file confirming the aforementioned money structuring involving the Chinese gambler\u2019s funds occurred.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copied on the emails were members of the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB), FBI Special Agent John Schettler, and IRS criminal investigator Chris Seymour. Seymour and Schettler were among the agents that spearheaded investigations into alleged improprieties around former gaming executive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/former-las-vegas-casino-prez-sibella-sentenced-for-money-laundering\/\">Scott Sibella<\/a> and Seymour was the agent that revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-sports-betting-forced-baseball\/\">MLB<\/a> translator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dodgers-fire-shohei-ohtanis-interpreter-as-gambling-story-becomes-lost-in-translation\/\">Ippei Mizuhara<\/a> illegally transferred $16 million to a black market bookmaker.<\/p>\n<p><strong>To be clear, Hard Rock International\u2019s statement did not mention the emails or any other motivation behind Pariente\u2019s suspension other the priorities of getting to the bottom and the importance of its companywide integrity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>What&#8217;s Next for Pariente\u2019s Relationship with Hard Rock?<\/h2>\n<p>As Hard Rock noted in the statement, Pariente is suspended sans compensation pending the results of the internal investigation. The company didn\u2019t mention a timeline for completion of that matter nor did it comment on the possibility of the executive being terminated. For his part, Cipriani believes it\u2019s time for the industry to rid itself of allegedly corrupt executives such as Pariente and Sibella.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe casino industry has no room for dirty, corrupt executives like Alex Pariente and Scott Sibella,\u201d said Cipriani. \u201cPariente should not have been an executive at all. Now is the time for the industry and the world to understand casinos shouldn\u2019t be hiring executives with checkered pasts.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a veiled reference to Pariente\u2019s time at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wynn-lv-strikes-130m-doj-settlement-largest-fine-ever-for-a-us-casino\/\">Wynn Las Vegas<\/a> and the Baha Mar Casino and Hotel in the Bahamas. Cipriani added Hard Rock executives, including Allen and COO Jeff Hook, should be commended for taking swift action and serious consideration in the Pariente matter.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-suspends-pariente-commences-internal-investigation\/\">Hard Rock Suspends Pariente, Commences Internal Investigation<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hard Rock suspends executive without paying following allegations of money structuring, unpaid markers Emails to higher-ups from gaming industry insider may have been tipping point Hard Rock International announced today that it suspended executive Alex Pariente without pay pending an internal investigation into allegations he permitted money structuring practices and allowed credit markers to go unpaid at a casino resort [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}