AUSTRAC has expanded into investigation into Star Entertainment’s compliance with anti-money laundering laws, two months after a third law firm announced a shareholder class action investigation into the casino operator on the back of damning media reports.
Crown Melbourne has been hit with a $1 million fine by the Victorian gaming regulator — the second this year — for failing to comply with rules on junket operators.
The lawyers and funder behind a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts will be asking the court to approve fees and commission worth 35 per cent of a $125 million settlement with the gaming giant, leaving over $81 million for group members.
A judge has directed that the legal fees and funding commission sought to be deducted from a $125 million class action settlement with Crown Resorts be included in a proposed notice to shareholders, after learning that group members were forced to click through to Maurice Blackburn’s website to find the “critical” figures.
The administrators of pokie manufacturer Atlas Gaming, of which former Victoria Premier Jeff Kennett is a major shareholder, are seeking an extension of time to finalise the sale of the struggling business which owes more than $9.5 million to creditors, shareholders and employees.
MinterEllison and Crown Resort’s internal lawyers were partially at fault for misconduct unearthed in a damning Royal Commission report into the casino operator because they failed to ask whether certain actions were moral as well as legal, the commissioner has found.
Crown Resorts has avoided having its casino licence stripped, for now, with a Victorian Royal Commission giving the casino operator two years to clean up its act after finding it failed to prevent “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative” conduct.
Star Entertainment Group is facing two possible shareholder class actions over alleged failures in the management of its anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing risks.
The Star Entertainment Group has filed court proceedings against the Australian Taxation Office seeking to have interest charges on a tax bill cancelled, saying the ATO acted “unfairly” by not adhering to the terms of a 2001 settlement agreement.
A high roller with a severe gambling addiction has taken Crown Melbourne to court, alleging the casino’s “predatory” practices caused him to lose more than $4.5 million over three and a half years.