Australia’s Federal Court has approved a settlement deal between Crown Resorts and financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC that will see the casino giant pay a total of AU$450 million (US$293 million) for historical AML failures.
Despite reports that Justice Michael Lee considered the settlement amount to be insufficient, the final judgement issued Tuesday afternoon ultimately gave the green light to proceed – even taking into account Crown’s request to stagger the payment over the next two years.
As per Justice Lee’s ruling, Crown Melbourne will pay to the Commonwealth of Australia a penalty of AU$300 million (US$200 million) and Crown Perth a penalty of AU$150 million (US$100 million), comprising AU$450 million in total.
The combined fine is to be paid in three instalments with AU$125 million (US$83.5 million) owed within 28 days, another AU$125 million within 12 months and the remaining AU$200 million (US$134 million) within two years of the date of the order. Crown will also pay AU$3.4 million (US$2.3 million) in costs.
“The penal orders to be made reflect the serious and unacceptable nature of the contraventions and are appropriate to deter both repetition of contravening conduct by Crown or like contraventions by other reporting entities who may seek to prefer profit over proper risk management,” Justice Lee wrote in his judgement.
“In particular, it will encourage casino license holders to ensure that their AML/CTF programmes, and the provision by them of designated services to customers, are appropriately calibrated to the ML/TF risk reasonably posed to the business.”
In a statement issued shortly afterwards, Crown Resorts CEO Ciarán Carruthers said the Federal Court judgement brings to an end the historical AML/CTF failures at Crown.
“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,” Carruthers said.
“There is no place for money laundering or terrorism financing at Crown or in our communities.”
Crown said previously that it has implemented a range of new controls and practices around its AML obligations since recent inquiries in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia, including investing more than AU$40 million into bolstering its financial crime compliance and expanding its Financial Crime and Compliance team around 170 people, among others.
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