The CEO of Australia’s biggest casino operator Crown Resorts has resigned amid scandals relating to money laundering and partnering with organized criminals. Offline casinos have come under scrutiny all over the world for turning a blind eye to criminals who use gambling to legitimize their funds earned through illegal activities. Online gambling sites like PlayAmo casino login have done a much better job at stopping money laundering and check the source of their players’ funds before allowing them to bet.

Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton has left the company after the board of directors is hoping that a new leader will prevent the casino operator from losing its gaming license at its Melbourne and Perth resorts after it has already been denied a license at its new Sydney property.

Barton was favored to leave the gambling giant after the government report revealed that Crown Resorts had helped and knowingly aided criminals illegally gamble with suspicious funds at their casinos in Melbourne and Perth.

The government report went even further and recommended that Crown Resorts be prevented from offering gambling in its recently finished $2billion casino in Sydney. The shock recommendation has left the property empty and Crown losing millions daily.

CEO Barton Was Negligent

Former Judge Patricia Bergin, who ran the government investigation into Crown Resorts, stated that the company had terrible corporate governance and little to no risk management protocols in place. These deficiencies were compounded by an unprofessional corporate culture that was governed by greed rather than ethical practices.

She concluded that the only way Crown Resorts could hope to operate their new Sydney casino was if they were willing to undertake serious reforms in multiple areas of the company.

Bergin said Crown Resorts had knowingly partnered with professional criminals who were using the property to wash their illegal funds. Crown not only did nothing to stop these practices, but they facilitated them by not reporting transactions to authorities and partnering with Chinese-based junket companies who helped move the illegal funds from China to Australia.

The government report concluded that CEO Barton was not fit to continue running the gambling operator due to his complete uninterest in preventing money laundering at Crown’s casinos. Despite Barton’s ten-year career at Crown, the report stated he should leave immediately.

Crown’s board of directors has attempted to implement the reforms and have started by removing the CEO. They also said they are in the midst of improving their compliance, governance, and risk management. They are creating more robust protocols to combat money laundering and have ceased partnerships with suspicious junket companies.