Crown Perth Under Fire for Alleged Illegal Credit Lines and Suspicious Financial Activities

The Crown Perth gaming establishment has been alleged to have furnished illicit lines of credit to its premium clientele, encompassing both foreign and local patrons. This activity was exposed during the Royal Commission’s investigation into the casino’s business dealings.

Lonnie Bossi, the head executive of Crown Perth, acknowledged during his sworn statement that he had sanctioned the practice of granting credit to these players. This constitutes a blatant breach of Western Australia’s Casino Control Act, which unequivocally forbids such actions.

Further intensifying the situation, the Royal Commission also disclosed that Crown Perth had initiatives underway to implement China UnionPay. This mechanism would have empowered gamblers to directly move funds from their Chinese bank accounts to the casino. Although this system obtained preliminary authorization from gaming regulators, it was never completely rolled out due to the prominent apprehension of multiple Crown personnel in China in 2016.

Adding another layer of complexity, the inquiry unveiled that Bossi was an authorized signatory on a financial account associated with Riverbank. This is particularly troubling because the Bergin Inquiry, which concluded earlier this year, designated this specific account as potentially being utilized to cleanse hundreds of millions of dollars. These suspicions surrounding Riverbank prompted both the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to shut down their respective accounts linked to Riverbank in 2014 and 2019.

When questioned regarding the closure of these accounts, Bossi remarked, “It transpired numerous years ago, and I was not privy to the daily banking operations at the time. In retrospect, I ought to have investigated further than I did at the time to make inquiries, which is a positive takeaway.”