Crown and Star and other smaller casino operators face accusations of actively facilitating money laundering and attempting to cover their tracks. The practices went on for years and are now coming back to damage Australia’s gaming reputation.<\/p>\n
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Despite the revelations and the fact that executives knew what was happening, no individual has faced criminal charges. Gaming regulators, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre have gone after the companies, but not the people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This has led some to wonder why the executives have a “get out of jail free” card. That question is now becoming the center of attention. The answer NSW, Victoria and Western Australia (WA) have provided isn’t satisfying.<\/p>\n
ABC News<\/em> explains that both states have clear legal guidelines for enforcement approaches. In neither case can regulators go after individuals \u2013 only the casino operators.<\/p>\nDropped Charges<\/h2>\n
WA hasn’t been able to “identify findings against individuals” that would provide enough evidence “under the existing regulatory arrangements.” In NSW, the gaming regulations, by omission and possibly design, expressly prohibit “action to be taken against a former close associate” of a casino operator.<\/p>\n
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ASIC launched an investigation into Crown and several board members this past March. But ASIC Chairman Joe Longo told the Australian Financial Review<\/em> only a couple of weeks later that it had dropped the charges against 10 unidentified former Crown executives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nHe added that it was “the right call.”<\/p>\n
AUSTRAC could go after some executives, but its track record doesn’t support the idea. The financial watchdog fined two banks over $1.3 billion in two years for egregious AML failures. It didn’t prosecute a single person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The revolving door to the boss’s office at Star Entertainment continues to spin out of control. The latest to jump ship is Geoff Hogg, the interim CEO who manned the helm for only about three months. Star is just one of Australia’s casino operators to come under fire for violating anti-money laundering (AML) and other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":233816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,33810],"tags":[81985,13363,82763],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Star Entertainment's Geoff Hogg Dashes for the Door After Only Three Months on the Job - Casino.org<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n