Court lands on $450m ‘sting’ for Crown

A federal court judge has determined Crown Resorts is to pay the $450 million penalty put forward by AUSTRAC and the casino operator for its raft of breaches of Australia’s anti-money laundering laws.

Handing down his judgement on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Michael Lee deemed that the agreed penalty was at the lower end of an ‘appropriate’ range for the embattled casino’s conduct across its Perth and Melbourne operations.

He said the penalty would inflict a ‘sting’ on Crown and set an example for other ‘would-be contraveners’ in the gambling industry.

Lawyers for Crown had argued that Crown Resorts did not have the financial capacity to pay the $450 million fine within 28 days of the court’s orders without significant financial hardship.

The court concluded the Blackstone-owned casino was to make payments in three instalments over two years.

Crown Resorts chief executive officer Ciarán Carruthers said the judgement brought an end to the historical failures of the organisation.

“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,” he said.

“There is no place for money laundering or terrorism financing at Crown or in our communities.”

The nation’s financial intelligence agency, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, launched proceedings against Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth in March 2022 following a 15-month investigation.

AUSTRAC and Crown filed joint submissions to the federal court after agreeing to the proposed $450 million penalty in May 2023.

In striking that agreement, Crown – comprising both Perth and Melbourne casinos – agreed it operated in contravention of AML/CTF Act.

In September 2020, Westpac agreed to a $1.3 billion penalty for breaches of AML laws, the largest civil penalty handed down in Australian corporate history.

Commonwealth Bank agreed to pay a $700 million fine for similar breaches in 2018.

Crown was acquired by investment giant Blackstone in mid-2022 for approximately $9 billion.