SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s financial crime watchdog filed a wide-ranging civil lawsuit in opposition to on line casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd on Tuesday, accusing it of failing to evaluate dangers of money laundering and terrorism financing at its solely two operational resorts.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) mentioned the corporate began by billionaire James Packer had failed to satisfy its obligations, making its enterprise and the nation’s financial system “susceptible to legal exploitation”.
AUSTRAC’s investigation discovered “poor governance, danger administration and failures to have and preserve a compliant AML/CTF programme detailing how Crown would establish, mitigate and handle the chance of their services being misused for money laundering or terrorism financing,” the watchdog’s CEO, Nicole Rose, mentioned in an announcement.
Crown “additionally failed to hold out acceptable ongoing buyer due diligence together with on some very excessive danger clients. This led to widespread and severe non-compliance over plenty of years,” Rose added.
AUSTRAC didn’t publish its assertion of declare in opposition to Crown however a Federal Court database confirmed a lawsuit filed by AUSTRAC in opposition to Crown was filed on Tuesday.
Crown mentioned it was reviewing AUSTRAC’s assertion of declare, however that it had developed a complete mediation plan and overhauled its governance since allegations of poor due diligence surfaced at a regulatory inquiry in 2020.
AUSTRAC started its investigation into Crown in October 2020 through the first of what would change into three bruising regulatory inquiries into Crown’s governance, one for every metropolis the place it has a on line casino.
The inquiries prompted authorities in Sydney to droop the corporate’s playing licence – earlier than it had opened a brand new resort there – whereas authorities in Melbourne put Crown underneath authorities supervision.
A 3rd inquiry, in Perth, is but to report its findings.
The firm has in the meantime changed most of its board and administration and beneficial shareholders – who embody billionaire founder and 37% proprietor James Packer – again a $6.3 billion buyout by personal fairness large Blackstone Inc.
A Blackstone consultant declined to remark.
(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sam Holmes)
