Recently, court documents revealed that Crown Resorts had asked the Australian Government’s financial intelligence agency to give it some more time to develop its defence. Earlier this week, a federal judge severely criticised the organisation over its continued procrastination in the ongoing lawsuit against one of the largest casino operators in the country.
Several days ago, federal judge Michael Lee publicly slammed the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) over the prosecution of Crown Resorts. According to him, the regulatory body should have not given the gambling company until May 2023 to develop its defence after already having a year to do so.
The federal judge then compared the decision of the financial watchdog to the resolution that ended the Napoleonic Wars, calling it “astounding”. Federal judge Michael Lee, however, could not believe AUSTRAC’s decision to put off the case considering the fact that both parties’ lawyers had agreed to the Australian gambling giant’s request to settle on agreed facts and admissions and to build a defence until May 2023.
Previously, Crown Resorts was ordered by judge Lee to file a response to the legal action against it by February 27th, 2023. Then, a hearing is set to take place on April 28th, with settlement negotiations likely to occur at the time.
However, AUSTRAC officials explained that the addition of some extra time was forced by Crown Resorts’ revelations that it was building its defence against Australian anti-money laundering laws. The watchdog further shared that its officials were not experienced enough to face the expertise of Crown Resorts’ lawyers.
AUSTRAC Suing 3 Casino Companies over Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Laws Violations
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre is suing three casino companies operating in Australia – Crown Resorts, Star Entertainment Group, and Skycity – for a large number of violations of the country’s anti-money laundering laws.
In March 2022, the Australian financial watchdog filed its case against two of Crown Resorts’ casinos – the one in Melbourne and the one in Perth – in the Federal Court. The regulatory body alleged the gambling giant of violating the country’s anti-money laundering laws on multiple occasions and criticised its senior executives for having fully inadequate oversight of Crown Resorts’ compliance with gambling legislation.
According to the allegations filed in the Federal Court by AUSTRAC, the Australian gambling giant failed to evaluate the risk of 60 high-risk high-rollers who bet more than AU$70 billion and lost a staggering amount of AU$1.1 billion since March 2016. As the financial organisation claims, some of these 60 VIP customers were customers of both Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth and are responsible for a total of 83 law offences.
Theoretically, the overall penalties linked to the alleged anti-money laundering violations, which Crown Resorts is claimed to have committed, exceed AU$1 billion. As part of the investigation, 576 alleged offences were found, with each of them carrying a maximum financial penalty of AU$22.2 million. According to analysts, however, an AUSTRAC-issued fine against the casino and gambling giant is more likely to amount to several hundred million dollars.
So far, the only other gambling operator in Australia to face a financial penalty for money laundering is Tabrop. While the fine available to AUSTRAC for the legislative breaches of the company could have reached AU$702 million, Tabcorp was actually handed an AU$45-million fine back in 2017. As Casino Guardian reported, in November 2022, Star Entertainment was also taken by the Australian financial watchdog to court. At the time, barrister John Sheahan KC explained that he would need more time to take the list of charges into consideration.
- Author
Daniel Williams
