Crown Resorts has taken a first step toward rescuing the license for its multibillion-dollar Sydney casino with the appointment of a chief compliance and financial crimes officer.
Steven Blackburn, currently chief financial crime risk officer and group money laundering reporting officer at National Australia Bank, one of the country’s big four banks, will assume the newly created position on March 1 and will report directly to CEO Ken Barton and the board of the ASX-listed gaming giant.
The appointment comes in the wake of a yearlong investigation by the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority that has uncovered serious lapses in Crown’s compliance with anti-money laundering regulations in its pursuit of the international high-roller trade at its flagship Crown Melbourne casino.
The investigation was launched in response to a series of exposés in the national media tying Crown to junket partners with reputed ties to organized crime in China and accusing the company of turning a blind eye to money laundering in Crown Melbourne’s VIP rooms.
The special commission the ILGA created to conduct the probe is slated to deliver its final report in February. The license for Crown’s A$2.2 billion Crown Sydney megaresort is hanging in the balance. The luxury casino hotel opens this month, but without a gaming floor, which will remain closed pending release of the report.
The commission’s legal counsel already has recommended Crown be found unsuitable for licensing In New South Wales, but it’s not expected the ILGA will act on that. The likelier course will be to impose hefty penalties and impose a tight regulatory grip on operations.
Anticipating this, Crown has suspended all junket activities and has promised a review of its compliance and governance processes, commencing with Blackburn’s appointment, which Barton termed “a further significant step forward in strengthening our compliance and anti-money laundering functions.”
“Steven is an experienced compliance executive, and his substantial technical expertise and global perspectives will position him well to take a leadership role in driving further improvements through the business,” the chief executive said.
At NAB Blackburn oversees the bank’s anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, sanctioning and anti-bribery and corruption efforts.
Prior to joining NAB, he served as AML officer for CIBC in Toronto, where he established the bank’s financial crimes program.
