Earlier today, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) announced that Crown Resorts’ casinos in Melbourne and Perth have filed joined submissions with the country’s Federal Court to propose a monetary penalty worth AU$450 million over the gambling giant’s violations of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. Through the submissions filed by the two casinos, Crown Resorts officially agrees with AUSTRAC that the fine that had been proposed by the country’s financial regulator is appropriate in all the circumstances.
The proposed settlement of the parties is set to be taken into consideration by a Federal Court justice at a hearing scheduled for July 10th and 11th, 2023. It is the court that will determine the appropriate penalty although the parties have already agreed on the fine.
Although AUSTRAC shared that it is currently unable to make further comments on the proceedings or the in-principle agreement because the matter is still subject to court consideration and decision, the chief executive officer of the regulatory body, Nicole Rose, shared that the casino sector is exposed at risk of exploitation by various criminal organisations and individuals seeking to wash their dirty money.
Ms Rose further noted that Crown Resorts’ violations of the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 had meant that a range of high-risk behaviours, practices and customer relationships were allowed to continue undisturbed for many years without the necessary checks. AUSTRAC’s boss noted that the gambling company had sought to respond to the identified failures by enhancing its approach to money laundering and terrorism financing risk management, and had also agreed to focus on financial crime compliance.
Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth Failed to Comply with AML and CTF Rules and Regulations
In reaching the settlement with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, Crown Resorts has admitted that it operated in a way breaching the aforementioned piece of legislation.
The Australian gambling giant has admitted that its casinos in Melbourne and Perth failed to appropriately assess the risks associated with money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as to identify and respond to changes in risk over time. The two gambling venues’ AML and CTF programmes did not feature appropriate procedures aimed at managing and mitigating the risks. Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth also failed to establish a suitable framework for Board and senior management oversight of their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing programmes.
Neither the Melbourne nor the Perth casino of Crown Resorts featured a transaction monitoring programme that was appropriate to the size, nature, and complexity of the gambling giant’s business.
In reaching the settlement with the Australian financial watchdog, Crown Resorts also admitted that the two abovementioned casino venues actually had an enhanced customer due diligence programme but the latter lacked appropriate procedures to make sure that customers at higher risk were subjected to more critical observation and examination.
The Melbourne and Perth casinos of the Australian gambling giant also failed to conduct appropriate ongoing customer due diligence on a number of specific patrons who at the time presented higher risks of money laundering activities.
- Author
Olivia Cole
