The largest casino operator in Australia – Crown Resorts – has been taken to court by the country’s financial watchdog over allegations of serious and widespread violations of counter-terrorism financing and anti-money laundering legislation.
The CEO of the Australian Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), Nicole Rose, issued a statement associated with the claims that the aforementioned breaches were systemic, alleging that the staff of the Australian gambling giant overlooked suspicious transactions initiated by so-called VIP customers, as affluent high-rollers are also known.
In its claims, the country’s Transaction regulatory body said that the non-compliant issues of Crown Resorts were systemic, long-standing and reflective of inadequate oversight by the company’s board and senior management. AUSTRAC further explained that some of the gambling operator’s customers had come to gamble in the company’s casinos with shoeboxes filled with cash.
The lawsuit comes 2 weeks after Crown Resorts recommended the proposed acquisition of Blackstone Group.
The long-running investigation of AUTRAC into Crown Resorts forced James Packer, the billionaire major shareholder of the Australian gambling giant, to distance himself from the company’s business after heading the company for more than twenty years. Amid the probe that the Australian financial watchdog started into Crown, more casino operators have been put under intense scrutiny. Currently, the watchdog is also investigating SkyCity Adelaide and Star Entertainment Group.
For the time being, the size of the potential penalty faced by Crown Resorts currently remains undisclosed.
Crown Resorts Faces Tougher Regulatory Measures in Australia and Macau
The investigation of Australian regulators is not the only regulatory pressure faced by Crown Resorts. The company has come under pressure in the world’s largest gambling hub in Macau.
When it comes to the regulatory bodies in Australia, the gambling giant had cooperated with AUSTRAC since the probe into the company was rolled out in 2020. The company explained that it had enacted stricter financial crime and compliance monitoring and launched an investigation into its patron bank accounts by an independent third-party consultant. The operator said it recognises how important it is to be in line with its obligations associated with the financial crime laws, so it had overhauled its approach to managing financial crime risk.
In the court claims, Ms Rose said that the Australian casino giant was found to have failed to carry out appropriate customer due diligence, especially when it comes to individuals exposed at high risk of gambling-related harm, as well as its arrangements with various junket operators.
As revealed by the AUSTRAC, the allegations against Crown Resorts include the use of cash in private gaming rooms, the use of shell accounts to take customer deposits, and running monetary transactions through hotel reception, with the money later becoming available within the casino. Some of the so-called junkets were allowed to use the private jet of the casino that was used as a means to transfer large amounts of cash into Australia.
The Australian Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre claims that some of the representatives of the aforementioned junket operators had links to organised crime syndicates. When it comes to evaluation, the AUSTRAC alleges that 60 individuals that used the services of the casinos in Melbourne and Perth generated a turnover of AU$70 billion for Crown Resorts in the period from 2016 to 2020.
- Author
Olivia Cole
