Money laundering worth millions in the Crown Casino Melbourne

Several days ago, it was already known, that a suspected swindler had washed a seven digit sum of money at the casino in Melbourne. In total, the snowball system of the swindler created losses amounting to around 222 million Euro when converted.

The Australian Gambling Group Crown Resorts has managed to make headlines again. Just last March we had reported that the CEO Ken Barton has resigned because of a money laundering scandal. Besides this, we reported in 2019 about the accusations that the Gambling Group had advertised for VIP-players from China illegally. The current case once again involves money laundering.

Fraudster of millions uses casino for money laundering

The suspecting fraudster of millions, Michel Gu has laundered and gambled more than eight million AUD at the Crown Casino Melbourne. Converted this amounts to around 5,1 million Euro. According to the available information, the million amounts originate from company accounts which are associated with the suspect. This involves the entertainment group iProsperity.

In the past year, iProsperity ended in the worldwide headlines, after the entertainment group registered bankruptcy amounting to millions. In all there seems to be a total loss amounting to 350 million AUD through a complex snowball system. When converted this amounts to around 222 million Euro.

Crown Resorts does not report transactions worth millions

After the accusations were made public, the Australian gambling group Crown Resorts announced comprehensive investigations. As it was also announced, Crown Resorts had failed to report the transactions made by the fraudster which amounted to millions, to the Federal State of Victoria.

The received funds from the snowball system, were used by the fraudster, mostly to finance his luxurious lifestyle. For example Gu had bought luxury cars , made extravagant trips and organised expensive parties. Further to this, Gu had, as already mentioned, deposited and played millions at the Crown Casino Melbourne. We had already reported at the end of April, that the Crown Resorts could be sold.

Online gambling basically offers the ideal conditions for professional money launderers. The organised criminality also partly makes use of online casinos, to launder criminal money. In an article of a few months ago, we asked whether the danger of money laundering is especially high in online gambling.

Crown Resorts endeavours to clarify the matter

According to its own information, the management responsible for the Australian gambling giant endeavours to clarify the situation. According to them, “Crown will see to it, that the supervisory authorities, the Members of the Royal Commission and other relevant authorities will be informed, as required”.

Further to this, Crown Resorts has announced that soon it will create 70 new jobs in the departments of player protection and fight against fraud respectively, so that in the future it will be better equipped in this regard.

Conclusion

The Australian Gambling Group has still not been out of negative headlines. In the Crown Casino Melbourne the fraudster, Michael Gu seems to have laundered several million Euro. Those responsible for the casino had failed to report the relevant transactions to the responsible authorities accordingly. Now the gambling group is endeavouring to clarify the matter and is trying to save its tainted image. It is however a fact, that it was made too easy for the fraudster, to launder the high amounts of money which originated from fraudulent acts in the casino.

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