The Australian gaming group Crown Resorts has made it into the headlines again. It wasn’t until March of this year that we reported that CEO Ken Barton had resigned due to a money laundering scandal. In addition, we reported back in 2019 on the allegation that the gambling company is alleged to have illegally advertised VIP players from China. The current case is once again about money laundering.
Millions of fraudsters use casino to launder money
The alleged fraudster Michel Gu is said to have laundered and gambled away a total of more than eight million AUD at the Crown Casino Melbourne. Converted this corresponds to an amount of around 5.1 million euros. According to the information available, the millions are said to come from company accounts that can be assigned to the suspect. This is supposed to be the iProsperity group of companies.
Last year, iProsperity hit the headlines around the world after the group went bankrupt. Overall, a complex pyramid scheme resulted in total damage of around AUD 350 million. This corresponds to an amount of around 222 million euros.
Crown Resorts does not report million dollar transactions
After the allegations became known, the Australian gaming group Crown Resorts announced extensive investigations. It has also been revealed that Crown Resorts did not report the scammer’s multi-million dollar transfers to the Victoria State Royal Commission.
Most of the money raised from the pyramid scheme was used by the fraudster to finance his luxurious lifestyle. For example, Gu bought luxury cars, went on extravagant trips and organized expensive parties. Furthermore, as already mentioned, Gu deposited and gambled away millions in the Crown Casino Melbourne. At the end of April we reported that Crown Resorts could be sold.
Basically, online gambling offers ideal conditions for professional money laundering. Organized crime also partly uses online casinos to launder criminal money. In an article that was only a few months old, we looked at the question of whether the risk of money laundering is particularly high in online gambling.
Crown Resorts is working to provide clarification
The responsible executives of the Australian gambling giant are trying to provide comprehensive clarification according to their own statements. Accordingly, “Crown will ensure that the supervisory authorities, the royal commissions and other relevant authorities are informed if necessary”.
Furthermore, Crown Resorts has announced that it intends to create 70 new positions in the two departments of player protection and fraud prevention in order to be better positioned in this regard in the future
Conclusion
The Australian gaming group is still not getting out of the negative headlines. The scammer Michael Gu is said to have laundered several million euros in the Crown Casino Melbourne. The casino’s managers did not report the relevant transactions to the relevant authorities. Now the gambling company is trying to clear up and try to save the tarnished image. However, the fact is that it has been made too easy for the fraudster to launder large amounts of money in a casino that resulted from fraudulent acts.
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