Head of FBI Field Office to Take Hong Kong Post

The head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office is leaving his post to take charge of security at the venerable Hong Kong Jockey Club, beset by a recent horse-race-fixing scandal.

Assistant FBI Director Timothy P. McNally will become chief of corporate security at the Jockey Club, a unique nonprofit institution in the former British colony.

The club, which dropped “royal” from its name at the time of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese control, runs the island’s only two racetracks and lottery.

Dominated by Hong Kong’s social elite, the 114-year-old club donates most of its profits to a wide range of local charities. Nearly 8% of Hong Kong’s tax revenues comes from betting at the Happy Valley and Sha Tin racecourses.

Last year, authorities announced the arrests of 13 people, including current and former jockeys, for allegedly fixing races at the two tracks. Two suspects have been convicted while the others are awaiting trial.

Wilson Cheng, a Jockey Club spokesman, said Wednesday that McNally’s appointment reflects the club’s determination to “keep horse racing clean.”

He said McNally will be responsible for creating a new structure of security at the club.

McNally, who has headed the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles since 1996, said he is taking early retirement after 24 years with the bureau.

“This is a unique opportunity to work and live in another cultural environment,” said the 51-year-old law enforcement official.

He said he had been contemplating retirement in the next few years, but decided to speed up his timetable because the opportunity in Hong Kong was too good to pass up.

McNally received a law degree from Marquette University and worked as a prosecutor in Milwaukee before joining the FBI in 1975.

Before his appointment as head of the Los Angeles field office, McNally served as special agent in charge of the criminal division at the Washington field office and as special agent in charge of the Baltimore field office.

He said he expects to take up his new post by May. No successor has been named.