{"id":190403,"date":"2021-10-29T08:05:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T15:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=190403"},"modified":"2022-04-29T09:52:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T16:52:44","slug":"crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Resorts Settles Lawsuit Over China Arrest Scandal for $94M"},"content":{"rendered":"

Embattled Australian casino operator Crown Resorts will pay A$125 million (US$94.25 million) to settle a shareholder class-action lawsuit linked to the 2016 arrests of 19 staff members in China.<\/p>\n

\"Crown
A Crown Resorts employee, left, leaves a Shanghai courtroom after her trial in 2017. The company has now settled the legal matter. (Image: Andy Wong\/AP<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Crown shares plunged nearly 14 percent in a day on October 17, 2016, after news of the arrests. Shareholders argued that the company had a duty to inform them that it was illegally marketing its services in China. It also knew it was placing staff at risk, but did nothing, the lawsuits claimed.<\/p>\n

The incident was\u00a0\u201cone of the most serious and comprehensive breakdowns in corporate governance in Australian history,\u201d according to legal firm Maurice Blackburn, which brought the suit on behalf of shareholders.<\/p>\n

China Crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sixteen of the Crown Resorts employees would go on to serve between nine and 10 months in a Shanghai prison for \u201cgambling crimes\u201d and organizing casino excursions for high rollers. Among them was the executive vice president of\u00a0 Crown’s VIP International Division, Jason O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrown\u2019s board of directors determined that the agreement to settle the proceeding was a commercial decision made in the best interests of Crown and its shareholders,\u201d the company said in an ASX statement Friday.<\/p>\n

Crown expects to recover a significant portion of the settlement amount from its insurers, but cannot, at this stage, be certain about the outcome of negotiations with insurers, or the outcome of any necessary formal steps for recovery it may need to take,” <\/strong>the statement continued.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The arrests had a significant impact on Crown\u2019s operations. VIP revenues dropped nearly 50 percent in the months that followed, and the company opted to abandon its international expansion strategy, canceling a planned Las Vegas resort and relinquishing its interests in Macau.<\/p>\n

\u2018Disastrous Failures\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Late last year, Crown was rebuked for its conduct in the matter during a regulatory investigation in New South Wales. That ultimately stripped it of its Sydney gaming license. Commissioner Patricia Bergin highlighted the company\u2019s \u201cdisastrous failures\u201d of corporate governance and risk management in relation to the arrests.<\/p>\n

She also criticized Crown for publicly attacking the integrity of former employee Jenny Jiang, who was the first detainee to break her silence.<\/p>\n

Jiang told Australian current affairs show\u00a060 Minutes\u00a0<\/em>that she had refused a $60,000 payment from the company to keep quiet about her ordeal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Incredibly, the inquiry also learned Crown had never conducted<\/a> an internal review into the incident. That’s because it was worried the findings would harm its defense in the shareholder lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the company learned it had been found unsuitable<\/a> by another regulatory inquiry, this time to hold a license in Victoria, home to its flagship Melbourne property. However, the state will allow Crown Melbourne to continue to operate while the company fixes its shortcomings.<\/p>\n

Both inquiries found the company facilitated money laundering in pursuit of profits and allowed itself to be infiltrated by organized crime via its junket operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Embattled Australian casino operator Crown Resorts will pay A$125 million (US$94.25 million) to settle a shareholder class-action lawsuit linked to the 2016 arrests of 19 staff members in China. Crown shares plunged nearly 14 percent in a day on October 17, 2016, after news of the arrests. Shareholders argued that the company had a duty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":190404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCrown Resorts Settles China Arrest Scandal Lawsuit for $94M<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Crown Resorts pays $94.25 million to settle class-action lawsuit brought by shareholders over the 2016 arrest of employees in China.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crown Resorts Settles China Arrest Scandal Lawsuit for $94M\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crown Resorts pays $94.25 million to settle class-action lawsuit brought by shareholders over the 2016 arrest of employees in China.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-29T15:05:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-29T16:52:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/criwn-workers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" 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-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/\",\"name\":\"Crown Resorts Settles China Arrest Scandal Lawsuit for $94M\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/criwn-workers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-29T15:05:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-29T16:52:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Crown Resorts pays $94.25 million to settle class-action lawsuit brought by shareholders over the 2016 arrest of employees in China.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-settles-china-arrest-scandal-lawsuit-for-94m\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/criwn-workers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/criwn-workers.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1365,\"caption\":\"A Crown Resorts employee, left, leaves a Shanghai courtroom after her trial in 2017. 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