Hard Rock Informed of Alex Pariente’s Money Misdeeds in 2020, Says Whistleblower
Posted on: June 27, 2025, 06:00h.
Last updated on: September 12, 2025, 07:54h.
- Second whistleblower said they notified Hard Rock compliance of exec’s money structuring endeavors in August 2020
- Source says Pariente hired unscrupulous junket representatives
- Pariente allegedly approved markers for multiple Latin American gamblers tied to corruption cases in the region
A second whistleblower has come forth detailing Alex Pariente’s alleged mishandling of anti-money laundering and compliance protocols at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
The source, who has decades of casino gaming industry experience, contacted Casino.org following the Wednesday publication of an article highlighting some of Pariente’s purported mishandling of cash, including allowing credit markers to go unpaid, at the Caribbean resort. The informer shared with Casino.org an email dated Aug. 5, 2020, in which he made Hard Rock compliance staff in Florida aware of the executive’s fast-and-loose treatment of credit issued to gamblers, adding Pariente made questionable hires with at least a pair of junket representatives.
One of those junket staffers was Kamer Alyanakyan, a Turkish national the source says had ties to Pariente dating back to the executive’s days at Wynn Las Vegas. In the email to Hard Rock compliance, the whistleblower notes in June 2019, Alyanakyan brought three gamblers — two from his home country and one from Uruguay — to Punta Cana. The whistleblower told Hard Rock compliance that Pariente allowed the junket rep to cash a check made out to himself for more than $1 million.
Those proceeds were deposited into Alyanakyan’s player account at Punta Cana and he proceeded to funnel at least $150K to each of the three aforementioned clients. The whistleblower said that’s a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act and should’ve been reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by the gaming venues cage and compliance directors, but those reports didn’t occur.
In the email, the informer added that this was a clear example of money structuring and that Pariente allowed funds tied to Alyanakyan to be handled in a “secretive” fashion. They also point out that it was common for Alyanakyan and those three players to show winnings and rarely losses.
Approved Dubious Transactions from Italian Bettors
The other junket rep in question is Fabrizio Mauro, whom the whistleblower said was responsible for bringing a pair of Italian gamblers to the Dominican casino hotel.
In the email, the source said in advance of a visit to the gaming venue, two men were wired funds via a Monaco bank account while another showed up with cash. The whistleblower noted that another employee warned Pariente that the man who showed up with cash hadn’t provided adequate information supporting his income claims and taking his deposit could raise money structuring concerns, but the transactions were authorized by the executive.
They added Pariente’s compliance decisions lacked consistency, marking the second such source that has levied such accusations against the executive.
In his current role as corporate senior vice president of casino and hotel operations at Hard Rock, Pariente approves nearly everything involving money at Punta Cana, including cage operations, collections, extension of credit lines, compliance, and marketing, according to the whistleblower.
Black Card Bungling, Furniture Follies
Another source speaking on the condition of anonymity told Casino.org that during their time working at Hard Rock Punta Cana, they witnessed multiple examples of Pariente allowing, if not encouraging, slack money-handling practices.
One example involves Venezuelan national Samuel Sanchez, who on multiple occasions according to the source, used his American Express Black Card to buy chips for use at the casino. That’s a violation of cardholder policy because American Express, Mastercard, and Visa prohibit clients from directly purchasing chips at gaming venues.
At Hard Rock Punta Cana, Sanchez was able to acquire chips by pulling hundreds of thousands of dollars off his Black card by making “purchases” at the front desk of the hotel — an act the source says Pariente was aware of.
The source also recounted the saga of “Roberto,” the proprietor of a Venezuelan furniture store. He used his business as a front to send money to the Dominican gaming venue where the cash was loaned out to gamblers with ties to the businessman.
The former staffer told Casino.org that Pariente was aware of both schemes and did nothing to prevent those situations from repeating. The ex-employee, who’s also been in the gaming industry for decades, also corroborated talk that Pariente allows some credit markers to go unpaid. They said that a decade ago, Hard Rock Punta Cana was holding $500K in unpaid markers, but that figure has since ballooned to “millions and millions of dollars” during the executive’s time at the Dominican casino.
Questionable Customers Frequented Punta Cana Casino
As is the case with some other gaming executives, Pariente has a reputation for allowing players with questionable backgrounds to wager at the casinos he oversees. The whistleblower notified Hard Rock in Florida of that point, highlighting multiple examples of the executive allowing dubious patrons from Latin America to bet at Punta Cana.
Those include Luis Alberto Peluso, who was removed as head of Argentina’s lottery for alleged criminal behavior. The whistleblower said Pariente allowed Peluso to keep $500K in the Punta Cana cage for six months because the Argentine didn’t want it wired to a bank in his home country for fear it would be seized.
In 2017, Brazilian politician Omar Jose Abdel Aziz, who spearheaded an anti-corruption campaign in his country, lost more than $1 million at Hard Rock Punta Cana, but couldn’t repay that credit marker due to problems with a Brazilian bank. The whistleblower said Pariente’s assistant, Silvia Mendez, attempted to collect that cash using a shady money exchange in Uruguay. Another source said Mendez was born in Uruguay and likely has passports for that country and the Dominican Republic.
The whistleblower added that Pariente knowingly allowed a $200K credit line to be extended to Mexican national Carlos Aniano Sosa Velasco who allegedly had ties to Odebrecht — a construction company at the epicenter of Brazil’s notorious Operation Car Wash graft probe. The source told Hard Rock compliance Velasco was known to frequently appear at Las Vegas casinos with Miguel Angel Osorio Chong. Chong was formerly the interior minister of Mexico and was rumored to have had ties to the Zetas — an infamous group of narcotraffickers — during his tenure as governor of Hidalgo state.
Last Comment ( 1 )
What's it going to take for Jim Allen to fire Alex Pariente and all his confederates? What did Hard Rock Seminole know and when did they know it?