James Packer

James Packer, a colorful Australian billionaire who has found himself embroiled in a corruption scandal involving Israel’s prime minister, resigned in March 2018 as a director of Crown Resorts, the casino company that is a source of much of his wealth. Mr. Packer is one of Australia’s richest men, a globe-trotting billionaire who had been engaged to Mariah Carey, formed a film-production company with Brett Ratner in Hollywood — and most recently became entangled in a corruption investigation involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. James Packer severed his family's deep ties to the media sector in 2012 when he sold pay-TV company Consolidated Media Holdings to Newscorp., pocketing $1 billion. That leaves him to focus on his gaming empire Crown Ltd., which owns casinos in Australia and has a joint venture--Melco Crown Entertainment--in Macau and Manila with Lawrence Ho. Mr. Packer, 50, owns about 47 percent of Crown, the biggest listed casino company outside China Packer inherited a $5 billion business when his father Kerry Packer died in late 2005. The family fortune was built on media assets. James operates a charitable foundation named for his father. He seeded it with $10 million in 2006. He has been a strong supporter of a program to help indigenous Australians move into corporate jobs. Packer was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in March 2018, and seems to be back on an even keel. He has resigned many of his business posts, returned to his LA home.