What happens in Vegas sometimes doesn’t stay in Vegas.

A high-stakes gambler turned whistleblower filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the group that owns the slots parlor at Aqueduct – potentially complicating a planned casino at the site.

A 95-page federal lawsuit against the owners of the Genting Group – which operates the Resorts World slots parlor at Aqueduct – claims management at Resort’s World’s Las Vegas allowed crooks to launder illegal proceeds by gambling.

“Since its celebrated Las Vegas opening in 2021, Resorts World has proven beyond question that it is unfit and incapable of operating a casino and hotel complex in compliance with the law,” claims the suit, filed in US District Court in Nevada.

“In fact, since opening Resorts World in 2021, Genting Berhad and Resorts World have proven their bona fides as a corrupt racketeering enterprise that operates with complete disregard of basic governance, corporate ethics and compliance with the law.”

The suit said Genting’s Resorts World Vegas facility conducted regular business with an illegal bookie, Mathew Bowyer, who was placing bets for the corrupt former Japanese interpreter for baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani.

One of the plaintiffs, RJ Cipriani, a high stakes gambler and federal whistleblower, also claimed in the bombshell suit that the casino operators had him falsely arrested in retaliation for trying to expose alleged illegal and suspicious activity.

Genting’s Resorts World New York was just awarded a casino license Monday to operate table games at Aqueduct, pending final approval from the state Gaming Commission.

The suit does not mention any wrongdoing involving officials at Resorts World — whose slot and entertainment business has been operating for some 15 years at Aqueduct without major scandal.

The two companies are separate subsidiaries of the Genting Group and share no executives.

But the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, suit claims that Resorts World Vegas hired bad people, including its first president Scott Sibella.

Sibella last year pleaded guilty to allowing an illegal bookmaker to gamble millions of dollars at the MGM Grand, where he previously served as president before his hire by Resorts World Vegas.

Resorts World fired him and other executives listed as defendants amid a federal probe before he pled guilty.

Nevada gaming regulators issued a $10.5 million fine against Resorts World Vegas in March 2024 to settle allegations of illegal gambling, many of which centered on a bookmaker, Bowyer, who took sports bets from with ties to Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers ace Ohtani.

Bowyer was sentenced to a year in prison.

Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for bank fraud and tax fraud after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s accounts to pay off illegal gambling debts. 

The lawsuit alleges that Bowyer was a frequent presence at Resorts World Vegas, and even hired the casino’s workers for his illegal gambling.

“Bowyer also employed agents and sub-agents – including two Resorts World casino hosts – who worked for his illegal gambling business and who referred to Bowyer four individual betting clients,” the filing by attorneys Michael Volkov and Kathleen Bliss alleges. 

“The Resorts World hosts were paid a portion of the losses that bettors incurred and paid,” it continues. 

“At times, Bowyer operated his illegal sports gambling business while gambling in private salons and the sports book in Resorts World,” the suit states. “Bowyer would adjust credit lines and discuss payments and bets with clients of his illegal gambling business by phone while gambling in Resorts World.”

The suit further alleged that Resorts World staffers would stop play at table games while Bowyer took calls and discussed his illegal gambling business.

“At other times, Bowyer would collect payments of proceeds of his illegal gambling business while gambling at Resorts World, including receiving and making payments in casino chips or in cash in envelopes or bags,” the suit claims. 

The suit accuses various defendants of money laundering, failure to file suspicious activity reports, witness tampering and witness retaliation.

The plaintiffs ask for unspecified damages for loss of earnings.

Defendants listed in the suit include the Malaysian-based parent group Genting Berhad, its chairman KT Limm, Resorts World Las Vegas, its former CEO Sibella, lawyer David Chesnoff and other Resorts World Vegas former executives including Matthew Forbes, Doni Tabue, Joseph Tatonetti, Tonya Henderson, Elie Samarani, as well as businessman Brandon Sattler.

“Genting Berhad’s Chairman and CEO, KT Lim deliberately ignored governance and oversight responsibilities to ensure compliance with the law in favor of advancing its overriding objective — make money at any cost,” claims the lawsuit.

The other plaintiff, Jim Russell, a businessman in the steel industry, claims he was swindled out of $10 million by Sattler, who “regularly gambled at Resorts World as a convenient location to launder his illegal proceeds, despite two prior fraud convictions and a non-dischargeable order from the United States Bankruptcy Court,” according to the suit.

Plaintiff Cipriani also blamed Genting’s Resorts World Vegas officials for getting him banned from gambling at any casino on the Vegas strip.

Cipriani claimed he was deprived of millions in gambling proceeds.

“We typically do not comment on pending litigation, but this lawsuit repackages old matters and is yet another attempt to bring negative attention to Resorts World Las Vegas and seek some form of compensation. We will vigorously defend ourselves against this meritless action,” a rep for Resorts World NY said.