Neil Jeans, principal at the anti-money laundering consultancy Initialism, advised Crown Resorts about suspicious transactions, but the company took 13 months to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Australia.- As Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission into Crown Resorts continues, new details emerge on the casino operator’s attitude to money-laundering risks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neil Jeans<\/strong>, principal at the anti-money laundering consultancy Initialism, has told the inquiry that he advised former chief executive Ken Barton about money laundering risks <\/strong>and suggested a full review of all transactions. However, the company did not act until over a year later, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crown Resorts CEO and managing director Ken Barton<\/a> stepped down following the ILGA\u2019s enquiry into the company\u2019s fitness<\/strong> to hold a casino licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her report following the New South Wales ILGA\u2019s inquiry into Crown, Commissioner Patricia Bergin wrote that Barton had shown he was not up to the job<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeans’ said he made his recommendations after a media investigation revealed money laundering <\/strong>through Crown Resorts casinos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At that time, the company<\/a> issued an advertisement signed by all 11 Crown directors<\/strong>, including Crown\u2019s executive chairman, Helen Coonan, attacking the investigation. Coonan later admitted the advertisement was inappropriate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeans said Initialism had discovered that a large sum of money went through accounts split up into smaller transactions to avoid a disclosure from the federal financial security agency AUSTRAC<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The principal said: “Each of those transactions appears to be trying to avoid the threshold of structuring<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also said that Crown \u201climited\u201d the scope of the investigation<\/strong> to three Australian dollar accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n