Australian billionaire James Packer resigned as director of Crown Resorts, citing personal reasons for his departure.
Consolidated Press Holdings, an investment arm controlled by Packer, said he is “suffering from mental health issues” and that he intends to step back from all commitments.
In February, Crown sold a Las Vegas property to Wynn Resorts for US$300 million; in December it sold half of its stake in Macau-based Melco Crown Entertainment after earlier last year seeing three of its employees jailed by the Chinese government in a crackdown on the promotion of gambling. Packer, a 47% stakeholder in Crown Resorts via Consolidated, had stepped down as CEO in 2015 and then resigned from the company’s board. He returned last year after the employees were jailed.
He emerged as a figure in recent corruption investigations of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu involving allegations of bribery and favor-trading among businessmen, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
