{"id":168264,"date":"2021-03-23T11:20:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T18:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=168264"},"modified":"2021-04-07T08:20:15","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T15:20:15","slug":"crown-resorts-created-code-to-avoid-detection-of-illegal-chinese-ops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-created-code-to-avoid-detection-of-illegal-chinese-ops\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Resorts Created Code to Avoid Detection of Illegal Chinese VIP Ops, Claims Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blackstone\u2019s $6.2 billion bid for Crown Resorts is a rare dose of positive news for the company\u2019s billionaire founder, James Packer. At the absolute minimum, it pushes some of the less-than-complimentary stories about Crown further down the Google News search rankings, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

\"Crown
Crown employees in face masks leaving a Shanghai court after their 2016 conviction for \u201cgambling crimes.\u201d Recent news spells more positive publicity for the company. (Image: Andy Wong\/AP<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those stories include new revelations about the company\u2019s now infamous Chinese operations, which were busted by authorities in China in 2017, resulting in the arrests of 19 Crown members of staff for \u201cgambling crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crown is still facing lawsuits from disgruntled investors who blame the entire disastrous, stock-devaluing episode on inadequate corporate governance on behalf of the board.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A New South Wales suitability hearing that ultimately decided the company was unfit to hold a casino license in Sydney agreed with this assessment.<\/p>\n

Last November, Crown lawyers told that hearing<\/a> it believed its Chinese VIP marketing business had been legal, and that a 2005 ruling by China\u2019s highest court protected it from prosecution.<\/p>\n

‘Crown Knew Risks’<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But according to new allegations filed in an Australian federal court by lawyers for the shareholders, Crown behaved like it was well aware of the risks it was running with its Chinese ops. The China segment was tasked with recruiting high rollers to gamble at the company\u2019s properties in Australia.<\/p>\n

According to the filings, Crown\u2019s employees in China were instructed to use code words when communicating with one another to hide the true nature of their business.<\/p>\n

\n

The filings also allege that Crown deliberately misled Chinese aviation authorities by \u201cstating, on permits for flights in and out of China by Crown\u2019s private jets, that the flights were for the purpose of Crown executives attending and returning from meetings in China, when those flights also, or instead, were for the purpose of transporting Chinese VIP gamblers to and from Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Three days after Chinese authorities announced a crackdown on cross-border gambling in February 2015, Crown removed all company branding from its fleet of jets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is also alleged Crown established \u201can unofficial and clandestine office in Guangzhou in China \u2026 which was used by Crown staff to perform administrative functions relating to processing visa applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Internal Investigation Didn\u2019t Happen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Incredibly, Crown executives admitted<\/a> to the NSW suitability hearing that it had not conducted an internal review into the China arrests. The executives said that was because they feared the results might weaken its case against the shareholders.<\/p>\n

Sixteen of the 19 staff members were jailed for nine or ten months in a Shanghai prison, including the company\u2019s then-executive vice president of its VIP International division, Jason O\u2019Connor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of the arrests, shares in Crown plummeted 15 percent in value. Shareholders are suing the company for $100 million.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, a new inquiry gets underway in Melbourne to examine Crown’s licensing suitability in the state of Victoria, potentially compounding the company\u2019s misery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blackstone\u2019s $6.2 billion bid for Crown Resorts is a rare dose of positive news for the company\u2019s billionaire founder, James Packer. At the absolute minimum, it pushes some of the less-than-complimentary stories about Crown further down the Google News search rankings, at least temporarily. Those stories include new revelations about the company\u2019s now infamous Chinese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":168266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCrown Resorts Created Code to Avoid Detection of Illegal Chinese Ops,<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Crown Resorts had code for Chinese VIP operations, secret office, according to a lawsuit brought by angry former shareholders.\" \/>\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 Created Code to Avoid Detection of Illegal Chinese Ops,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crown Resorts had code for Chinese VIP operations, secret office, according to a 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content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\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-created-code-to-avoid-detection-of-illegal-chinese-ops\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-created-code-to-avoid-detection-of-illegal-chinese-ops\/\",\"name\":\"Crown Resorts Created Code to Avoid Detection of Illegal Chinese 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