{"id":152308,"date":"2020-10-18T20:44:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T03:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=152308"},"modified":"2020-10-18T21:15:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T04:15:19","slug":"crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Resorts Announces Money Laundering Investigation by Australian Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crown Resorts Limited announced Monday morning (Sunday night, ET) that Australian authorities are investigating the gaming company\u2019s Melbourne casino for potential violations of money laundering and other laws.<\/p>\n

\"Crown
Crown Reorts Limited announced Monday morning (Sunday night ET) that AUSTRAC has started a money-laundering investigation after finding “potential non-compliance” at the Crown Melbourne resort casino. (Image: VisitMelbourne.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Australian-based gaming company made the revelation in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange after AUSTRAC informed the company that it \u201cidentified potential non-compliance\u201d by Crown Melbourne regarding the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2007.<\/p>\n

AUSTRAC is the country\u2019s federal agency responsible for investigating financial crimes.<\/p>\n

Crown said the investigation focuses on concerns about \u201congoing customer due diligence\u201d and the way the Melbourne resort handles patrons identified as \u201chigh risk and politically exposed.\u201d It stems from a compliance assessment that started in September 2019.<\/p>\n

Crown Melbourne will respond to all information requests in support of the investigation and fully co-operate with AUSTRAC in relation to this process,\u201d the company said in its statement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The company is one of Australia\u2019s leading entertainment and gaming enterprises. In addition to the Melbourne resort, it also owns Crown Perth and is preparing to open a casino resort in Sydney. The license for that multi-billion dollar development was the subject of a three-day suitability hearing<\/a> that ended last week.<\/p>\n

That hearing, conducted by the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, also delved into concerns about money laundering activities, as well as ties to organized crime.<\/p>\n

In an effort to salvage the Sydney license, Crown officials announced last week that it would cease working with junket operators who bring in high-money Chinese gamblers through next June.<\/p>\n

Crown General Meeting Set for This Week<\/h2>\n

The AUSTRAC investigation is just the latest bout of bad news for the gaming company, and it comes as Crown plans to hold its annual meeting later this week.<\/p>\n

Critics of the company\u2019s management have targeted the upcoming meeting and recommended to shareholders that they vote out three board members.<\/p>\n

\n

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors<\/a>, which provides advice to pension funds based in the country, has called on Jane Halton, John Horvath, and Guy Jalland to be removed, and other long-term board members should be thinking about their position on the board.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The concerns about the company\u2019s management were also spotlighted in a documentary that aired a year ago. That report showed footage of a junket operator helming a cash desk at the Melbourne casino.<\/p>\n

Ken Barton, Crown\u2019s CEO and one-time CFO, acknowledged he only learned of the cash desk by watching the documentary.<\/p>\n

Crown Stock Takes Hit<\/h2>\n

The news of the investigation sent Crown\u2019s stock on the ASX tumbling in trading Monday.<\/p>\n

By 2 pm local time in Sydney (11 pm Sunday ET), the stock was down nearly 9 percent to AUD 8.19 (US $5.81).<\/p>\n

Like other gaming stocks, Crown had a precipitous fall due to the COVID-19 crisis that shut down casinos. It lost about half its value in a month, as the stock traded as low as AUD 5.84 in mid-March.<\/p>\n

The stock rebounded to nearly AUD 11 in early June, but has since fallen gradually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crown Resorts Limited announced Monday morning (Sunday night, ET) that Australian authorities are investigating the gaming company\u2019s Melbourne casino for potential violations of money laundering and other laws. The Australian-based gaming company made the revelation in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange after AUSTRAC informed the company that it \u201cidentified potential non-compliance\u201d by Crown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":152309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCrown Resorts Reveals Money Laundering Probe by Australian Authorities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Crown said the investigation focuses on concerns about due diligence and how the Melbourne resort handles patrons considered high risk.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crown Resorts Reveals Money Laundering Probe by Australian Authorities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crown said the investigation focuses on concerns about due diligence and how the Melbourne resort handles patrons considered high risk.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-19T03:44:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-19T04:15:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Crown_Melbourne.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/\",\"name\":\"Crown Resorts Reveals Money Laundering Probe by Australian Authorities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Crown_Melbourne.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-19T03:44:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-19T04:15:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Crown said the investigation focuses on concerns about due diligence and how the Melbourne resort handles patrons considered high risk.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-reveals-money-laundering-probe-by-australian-authorities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Crown_Melbourne.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Crown_Melbourne.jpeg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1152,\"caption\":\"Crown Reorts Limited announced Monday morning (Sunday night ET) that AUSTRAC has started an money laundering investigation after finding \\\"potential non-compliance\\\" at the Crown Melbourne resort casino. 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