Blackstone's Crown Resorts Agrees to A$450 Million Penalty for High-Risk Practices
May 30 2023 - 03:12AM
Dow Jones News
By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY--Blackstone's Crown Resorts agreed to a penalty of 450
million Australian dollars (US$294.2 million) over breaches of
anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws prior to the
casino operator's acquisition by the U.S. asset manager.
Crown and the Australian government's financial transactions
regulator agreed to the penalty over issues that included failing
to conduct appropriate checks on certain gamblers and failing to
appropriately assess money-laundering risks, the Australian
Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre said Tuesday.
"A range of obviously high-risk practices, behaviors and
customer relationships were allowed to continue unchecked for many
years," Austrac Chief Executive Nicole Rose said.
Australia's Federal Court will decide whether to approve the
penalty in July.
Blackstone acquired the beleaguered Crown, one of Australia's
two largest casino operators, in June 2022. Three Australian states
had also conducted inquiries into Crown's conduct, while the
Covid-19 pandemic prompted border restrictions that reduced visits
from lucrative high rollers.
Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 30, 2023 02:57 ET (06:57 GMT)
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