Investors file class action against Crown

A group of investors have filed a class action against Australian casino giant Crown over Chinese scandal.

Australia.- Eighteen Crown employees had been held in China after authorities determined the company wasn’t giving shareholders the required information about business risks and now Crown has received yet another hit. A group of Chinese investors have filed a class action against the casino giant after the employees pleaded guilty on charges of luring rich Chinese to Australia in opposition to the Asian country’s anti-corruption laws.

According to class action specialists Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, the case on behalf of hundreds of investors focused on a share price drop of nearly 14 per cent on October 17 2016, after the arrest went public.

Andrew Watson, head of class actions at Maurice Blackburn assured that the Australian company decided to take a chance with Chinese VIP operations and acted against Beijing policy on illegal gambling-related activities. “Shareholders should have been appraised of the risks that Crown was taking in China and the threat they posed to the company’s revenue streams,” he commented.

Mr Watson also praised that, in Australia, “companies can be held accountable via the class action mechanism, for breaching their legal obligations to make timely and accurate disclosures to the market.”

Crown confirmed that “the proceeding has been filed on behalf of persons who acquired an interest in Crown shares between February 6 2015 and October 16 2016,” and assured it will “vigorously defend the proceeding.”