Federal Court approves Crown Resorts’ AUSTRAC penalty for AU$450m
The civil penalty now brings an end to the saga that has raged on for over a year, with multiple reports and investigations launched against the embattled casino resort operator.
Crown Resorts has confirmed it will pay a AU$450m (US$300m) civil penalty, initially agreed with AUSTRAC, after it was approved by the Federal Court.
After months of continuous fines and punitive action made against Crown, which was found to be guilty of multiple serious regulatory failures – including funding terrorism and money laundering – the case against the casino has been closed.
Crown Resorts’ current CEO, Ciarán Carruthers, said of the Federal Court’s decision to approve the sum: “Under new ownership and leadership, we have introduced sweeping reforms as part of our Future Crown transformation program and invested tens of millions to bolster financial crime compliance and embed global best practice for the gaming sector.
“There is no place for money laundering or terrorism financing at Crown or in our communities.”
It may be the end of Crown’s regulatory problems, but Carruthers still has much to do as, in the last 15 weeks alone, Crown has had to pay back significant sums of money to employees after admitting ‘record-keeping issues.’
In this instance, Crown self-reported to the Ombudsman after if found the errors in a payroll review, quickly apologising for the error and paying those affected by the issue.
Additionally, it was also fined AU$30m over undeclared bank cheques, the value of which added up to more than AU$1.5bn.
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