Crown Casino Exposed: Alleged involvement with Chinese Crime Gangs
Crown casino exposed: link found to Asian organised crime
Crown casino exposed… A corporate scandal involving the largest Australian casino operation, Crown was revealed. Following allegations regarding links between organised crime and a junket operator the brand uses to bring Chinese gamblers, Crown's shares fell 2.1 per cent. This is the biggest loss in one day for the last three months. Another thing which initially fell is Crown's reputation. With Crown's policy, so far, to remain in silence, it looks like the future is not very bright for the brand.
An investigation which has been led by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes reports that the casino and the hotel operator worked together with a Chinese tour operator to attract the Chinese elite. It might have also exploited weaknesses in visa processes, in particular with checking procedures. In addition, the brand has been involved in money laundering, sex trafficking, and drug syndicates.
After entering the Chinese market in 2010, Crown encouraged its staff not to comply with the national laws in order to tempt extravagant spenders. However, when authorities intervened, the company did not stand up by its employees. It looks like that the operator gives more importance to money rather than the staff.
Thus, 19 employees were arrested in 2016 because of breaching Chinese laws which ban gambling and its promotion. One of these employees, Jenny Jiang, is the first one who talks about what happened to her and her colleagues back then. Ms. Jiang lives in Shanghai. Currently, she has a criminal record thanks to the actions of her employer. Likewise, she refused a $60,000 payment on the condition for her silence.
She claims that her main income was based on incentives. They were paid out when their high roller customers reached targets such as gambling billions of dollars. Her claims regarding those incentives are backed up in Chinese court documents. They describe how Crown's sales staff got their income as “commissions” when the targets are to be met. It appears that high management pushed every member of the staff to meet more customers and therefore get more business.
She also believes that Australian consulate offices in China assisted Crown to get visas, and rubber-stamped some applications. What she also claims is that Crown's promise to bring revenue to the Australian government contributed to those fast-tracked visas. Hundreds of Chinese nationals who promised to gamble millions of dollars on trips to casinos benefited as a result.
The investigations reported that Crown was ready to work tightly connected with Asian organised crime syndicates and the most powerful drug trafficking syndicate in the world just to obtain more money. Moreover, people of high positions in the government also stated that Crown helped criminals pass the border. Consequently, this present a threat which questions the security in Australia.
Those criminals would look for different ways in order to “clean” money or move money illegally out of the country. They would do anything to accomplish their mission from working with operators with access to offshore funds to providing lavish services including non-negotiable casino chips. After that, the junket operator receives a commission and the criminals leave the casino with “clean” money.
In a statement, Crowns Resorts denied any allegations for breaches of Chinese law or exposure of its staff to detention in China. Although, it said that it could not comment further on specific allegations. Apart from that, the brand has an anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing program operating which complies with AUSTRAC.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn has begun a class action against Crown after its share price decreased rapidly when the above mentioned employees were detained. The action alleges that the company knew or should have known about the risk as it is foreseeable. A lawyer for the casino's biggest shareholder, James Packer, stressed that he did not know about this conduct. More interestingly, Mr. Parker said he is deeply concerned for the workers' welfare.
In Australia, there was some outrage over how the story was advertised by 60 Minutes. Viewers noted that this is not the first time such an investigation has been initiated. In 2017, a similar ABC investigation took place. Some people even believe that the whole storyline is exaggerated and promoted excessively.
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