Australian casino operator Crown Resorts could be forced to pay almost AU$500,000,000 for alleged failures to prevent illegal money laundering and terrorism financing at its casinos in Melbourne and Perth.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and Crown Resorts jointly filed in the Federal Court that the casino giant should pay an AU$450-million penalty for a total of 546 violations of the country’s anti-money laundering legislation. If paid, the fine – that is also linked to violations of counter-terrorism laws at Crown’s Melbourne and Perth casinos – would constitute the largest-ever fine paid by a casino operator on a global scale.
On the first day of a two-day hearing taking place at Sydney’s Federal Court, Judge Michael Lee tried to understand who at the Australian casino giant knew what and when they knew it. The court also heard that the former executives of the casino had failed to roll out and oversee effective programmes aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, although some issues have been raised from within the company, on one hand, and by police, on the other hand, on multiple occasions.
The court proceedings that took place earlier today were particularly focused on the junket programmes of Crown Resorts, which provided the casino operator with the chance to facilitate high-roller players’ access to private gambling rooms without thoroughly checking their source of wealth beforehand.
The court learned that in the programme, which ran from March 2016 to March 2020, junket operators, such as SunCity, were allowed to operate private gambling rooms within Crown Resorts’ Australia-based casinos, as well as their own cash desks. The room operated by SunCity between late 2017 and early 2018 received as many as 58 complaints regarding suspicious matters, with police forces making a further three investigations of the junket’s cash desk later in the same year.
Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth Casinos Were Involved in Political Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing
The legal representative of the AUSTRAC, Michael Hodge KC, explained that it was impossible to determine the full extent of Crown Resort’s AML and CTF violations, as improper monitoring prevented accurate documentation and record-keeping.
Justice Michael Lee, however, put Mr Hodge’s submissions under question, asking whether Crown Resorts had not deliberately failed to comply with its legal obligations or had done so by negligence. As explained by AUSTRAC’s lawyer, it had not been agreed upon why the Australian gambling giant had failed so badly to comply with the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws but confirmed that the leadership is now largely replaced.
Despite all the evidence, Justice Lee said he could not simply label the significant changes brought to the leadership and board of Crown Resorts and the fact the company had ceased its junket operator partnerships as evidence of remorse.
The AUSTRAC highlighted at least 60 customers exposed to high risk, with 43 of these people being junket operators. Many of them were categorised as politically influenced people, whose combined overall turnover amounted to AU$69 billion. Also, at least 40 people had been identified as suspicious by either the Melbourne or the Perth casino of Crown Resorts.
As part of its settlement with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, Crown Resorts admitted that it violated certain pieces of legislation by failing to assess the risk faced. The gambling giant also confirmed that it agreed to implement a transaction monitoring programme suitable for the size of its operations.
- Author
Olivia Cole
