Nick McKenzie reveals what lies beneath the glitz of Crown Casino | 60 Minutes Australia

tonight the culmination of a six-month-long joint investigation between this program and the Sydney Morning Herald and age newspapers we reveal a corporate Scandal involving Australia's largest casino operator Crown which until recently was the pride and joy of reclusive billionaire James Packer now though he's offloading his staking crown with its reputation tarnished after 19 of its employees were jailed for breaking gambling laws in China but as you'll see the company only has itself to blame we've obtained tens of thousands of documents from inside Crown's corporate headquarters they show a Lust For profits droven arrogant culture where almost anything including cting people with ties to the criminal underworld was not only allowed but encouraged investigative reporter Nick mcken [Music] explains I think I'm the luckiest person in Australia I'm a jet James Packer was certainly dealt a great hand in life and he played it [Music] well betting billions on the company he inherited from his father he turned Crown Casino into one of the world's gambling jewels [Music] but as any punter knows winning is addictive and Packa wanted more ladies and gentlemen I've made many mistakes in my life but investing in China is not one of them Packa set out to conquer the High Roller Market by luring Chinese VIP gamblers to our Shores and he made no apologies for his bold plan I'm really sick of people looking at me as though our business is some sort of sinful business business I am hugely proud of our business but what Packa didn't know was that others in the company executing his vision would take crown down a very dangerous path it was all about making money yes even though they were breaking the law in China I don't think they wored [Music] it this is the story that Crown Casino does not want you to see and that's because of one of the largest leaks ever of corporate data to Australian media 60 Minutes the age and the Sydney Morning Herald have obtained tens of thousands of crowns internal files and documents from sources close to Crown's Melbourne headquarters it's a jackpot of highly sensitive and damaging information that not only reveals the secret inner work workings of Australia's biggest casino but also its ties to Chinese crime bosses and Communist Party figures these people are well funded and some of them are quite dangerous need fear for your life they not suicidal at the stage it involves the most powerful drug Syndicate in the world bundles of cash coming out of a plastic bag I look at this and there are neon L flushing moneya laundering and sex trafficking Rings you know that these women were being held against their will but most disturbing of all our investigation proves how crowns hunger for profits endangered its own people and exposed Australia's national security to grave risks well who was coming on these flights my immediate reaction was there was an enhanced risk Crown's only concern was getting caught it was here in Hong Kong that Crown launched its ambitious strategy to crack the Chinese high roller Market but things went terribly wrong and to find out why we're going to meet a crown whistleblower who's taking a massive risk in speaking out two years ago Jenny J was told to keep her mouth shut clown Resorts staff detained in China on alleged Gam crimes to never speak of the events that led to her and 18 of her colleagues being locked up in a Chinese jail the crown workers have already spent more than 8 months in prison do you think Crown exposed its Chinese staff to Danger yes money is way more important than a staff but in a world where cash is King Jenny's silence could not be bought not even by Australia's most powerful gambling Empire by by speaking out now she risks her personal safety but as Crown's Keeper Of Secrets Jenny believes Australians deserve to know the truth to me it's like I don't hate but I feel upset with this number one you know like biggest hotel casino in Australia and are they doing the right thing or are they doing the good thing from Chinese housewife to a prisoner of China's Infamous detention system Jenny's story is terrifying but it began innocently enough in April 2011 when she landed a job with crown Casino as its administrator in Shanghai did you like your job it's different world as I seen it's completely different kind of job it's like wow wow World why a w World cuz you never seen like a summoning wealthy people the first thing you need to know in this complex chain of events is simple both gambling and promoting gambling is illegal in mainland China the law seems clear yet Crown thought it could sidestep it by pretending to lure wealthy Chinese gamblers not to its casinos but to its luxurious Australian hotels hotels that just happen to have High Roller rooms attached to them gaming analyst Ben Lee says he always suspected Crown was secretly promoting gambling a suspicion proven by their internal documents the facade may have been that of marketing a resort but I think anybody can see through that facade quite easily and very very quickly they were not there to market the golf course or the restaurant in in Melbourne they were there to market the gaming activities Crown says it was never promoting gambling in China was that a lie yes it was a lie Jenny became a trusted player in the secretive and increasingly risky operation Crown had set up across mainland China it was illegal but it was also lucrative Rich Chinese enticed to Crown's lav Australian Resorts were losing bucket loads of money in its casinos how much money are we talking about some customers losing like uh maybe like 10 million in like 15 20 minutes losing 10 million in 15 minutes yeah which is I was surprised about what kind of job I'm taking big losses were great news for crown and Senior managers kept pushing ing their Chinese staff to promote gambling to more and more groups of wealthy punters it was an order that put the entire team in grave danger they the only Casino operator that I know of uh who has open marketing offices in China nobody else has why was that so dangerous on the mainland when you open uh marketing offices in China you are exposing yourself and uh for westner to think that you know they can get away with what they've done is uh absolute arrogance and hubish selling fast and selling hard was the crown way as our mountain of leaked data reveals sell to the end fight every battle indoctrinated in a Wolf of Wall Street sales culture staff were told to offer big gamblers big favors for punting at its AAL casinos high rollers got gold iPads Hermes scarfs and dhill cufflinks even free gambling cash known as lucky money and free of charge private jet flights the more money they gambled the more gifts they received assist with immigration and kids school assist with property investment increase credit line and the crown sales staff weren't forgotten either they got huge bonuses for netting the big whales we have an opportunity to destroy the competition but they were also punished if they failed to reel them in outwit out hustle our competition keep up the intensity to crush our goals we need to keep the pressure on if People's not really good just let them go you get sacked if you're not selling mhm so on the one hand staff are thinking geez we're breaking the law here in China for Crown but on the other hand Crown's paying them big bonuses yes it's a tough road to walk if if you made money for your family you taking the risk to doing this job and um you don't know what happened the next day what could happen to Jenny and her colleagues by doing what Crown demanded of them became obvious in mid 2015 C when Chinese police swooped on the staff of a Korean Casino the message it sent should have been loud and clear for Crown in China my experience is the Chinese government often sends a warning the pebble is dropped in the in the water the ripples go out and if you tuned in you can see that something has changed Steve Vickers is the former head of the royal Hong Kong police criminal intelligence Bureau he says the arrest of 13 Korean Casino workers showed just just how serious president Xi Jinping was about cracking down on gambling promotion which was the unlawful activity at the very heart of crown secretive China operation to me that's a wakeup call that would be uh oops things are you know things have happened I mean a bunch of Korean Casino operators were arrested in in broad daylight isn't that one hell of a wakeup call that's a big wrap on Knuckles from the from from the Chinese government but it's difficult to stop momentum sometimes after the Koreans were arrested at the airport did Crown slow down its recruitment its promotion of gambling in China no even though another casino had come unstuck Crown kept selling I don't think they worried but Crown's internal email show it was becoming worried but rather than down tools Executives devised other plans to circumvent the Chinese gambling laws staff were told to be more under the radar to meet VIP gamblers in smaller groups we will be applying for Hong Kong Singapore work permits for all of our China staff and to obtain foreign travel documents so it looked like they weren't even working in China this is purely a precautionary measure that will allow you to say that you work out of an overseas location and are on business travel in China Jenny saw it for what it was and was scared we feel like we can be arrested anytime because we are doing the same kind of business what did you mention to the big Crown managers we do talk to our management the head management and saying like this is a little bit dangerous for us and the company told us we are safe and we are not doing the illegal thing so Crown said it's going to be okay yes did you believe them we don't everybody's feels really nervous coming up Jenny's Uninvited visitors that's really horrible memory to me as Chinese agents bash down her door I feel really helpless desperate plus exposing Crown's Dirty Secrets do you think Crown knew knew you were breaking the law that's next on 60 [Music] Minutes Jenny Jung never imagined she'd end up a convicted criminals and spend time in prison all thanks to her bosses at Crown Casino a world away in Australia I feel like they need to feel guilty not myself do you think Australians know the full story about Crown I think they know part of it but not all of it for us it's never got to forget in our life you never got to wipe it out yeah it was 2016 and Crown thought it had beaten strict laws which banned the promotion of gambling on the Chinese Mainland it's China based sales staff were actively trying to lure wealthy gamblers to Australian casinos I believe as other salese believe that we've been told by our company that we're doing we're not doing anything illegal you were told by Crown you were not doing anything illegal not doing anything illegal was that a lie right now I realize it is a lie that lie finally caught up with crown and 19 of its staff on the night of October 13 2016 it was close to midnight and Jenny was at home getting ready for bed when Chinese police burst through her front door that's really horrible memory to me as Jenny watched on helplessly a team of five police officers ripped apart her apartment seizing her laptop phone and work files I feel really panicked I feel really helpless I feel really desperate Jenny was arrested on the spot and taken into police custody I couldn't get any help but I saw on my colleague which is that night and I I feel like well this is going to be a big issue for us Crown Resorts staff detained in China on alleged gambling crimes could Jenny was held along with 18 of her colleagues who'd also been raided that night the crown workers including three Australian Nationals swept up in the busts were three Australians including one of Crown's top Executives Jason ' Conor the head of the casinos International VIP program he was captured by police as he tried to flee China Jason that night when we been arrested he's tried to leave Shanghai he got on the plane and they caught him on the plane he was sentenced to 10 months jail the crown arrest sent shock waves around the world we spoke in D to James Packer about this and what's been the nature of that discussion I've been in contact with Mr Packer they have been reports that it's related to uh gambling in the casinos evidently but beyond that we don't have any specific details Crown feigned surprise but it was not a shock for the company we've obtained tens of thousands of internal Crown records a massive leak which reveals that before the raids Jenny and her colleagues were actually told what to do if Chinese police burst through their doors make sure no company documents materials are left in the room do not under any circumstance aners give any official office badges or pass keys or Grant any official further access to the internal office area except as permitted by management what did Crown tell you before you were arrested what did Crown tell you to do if you were arrested do not say anything doesn't need do not cooperate with the government Crown said if you're arrested don't cooperate with the China's government [Music] mhm do you think Crown secretly knew that might I think that I think they do they do know about this I knew you were breaking the law but they just don't tell the staff because they want the staff bring the money over and they keeping working for them I were happy for the Chinese staff to break the law if the money was flowing over yes Crown was right to be worried about police seizing its confidential Company files as we've discovered ourselves Crown's internal data tells an extraordinary story it reveals just who Crown was getting into bed with as it lured China's wealthiest people to gamble in Australia to understand Crown's duplicity we need to go to maau this is the only place in China where you can legally have a b at a casino in the rest of the country it's illegal as is any promotion of gambling or debt collecting Crown tried to work around those laws it not only used its own staff to hook the big whales and bring them to Australia it hired maau agents known as junket operators to do its dirty business these junket middlemen not only find Chinese VIPs for Crown they lure them to Australia by arranging luxury travel and millions in gambling credit they also do whatever it takes to collect bad debts it is illegal for a Mainland Chinese to bring more than a very modest amount of money across the border what the junk kits do is they assist in capital outflow from the mainland they assist in the identification of puns uh they facilitate the travel and their arrival and then there's one other key issue it's illegal to collect debts so it's Common Sense uh you're not going to send the Boy Scouts around to collect debts you're want to send somebody else around and here is where it gets even murkier former Royal Hong Kong police Commander Steve Vickers says many junket operators are controlled by secretive and dangerous organized crime gangs known as Triads the Triads are complex organizations I understand what they are they're cancerous organization which needs to be kicked around very hard what is the risk the crown takes on when it gets into bed with junkets uh the risk is that they may have taken on unfortunate uh business associates so the the answer is both at the Australian end and at the Asian end to understand who you're doing business with you aren't Keen to name individual junkets why not I think one needs to be very careful um being a Triad member is a huge red light to me these people are well funded and some of them are quite dangerous you'd fear for your life if you were to I'm judicious in my in my comments I've taken Triads on for many times and many years uh but I'm also not I'm not suicidal at the stage maau is an operating hub for the Triads and it's here they run certain junkets the businesses that lure the big gamblers the whales to the casinos and collect their debts when things go bad for years Australian policing agencies have watched Asian crime bosses wash their dirty money through certain junkets but then things changed as some of those same junkets began operating in [Music] Australia there's no saying in uh the cops if you want to find the crime you follow the money yeah Roman quad vague has spent decades targeting International money laundering and Oran organized crime Rings Not only was he in charge of Border Force before that he was an assistant commissioner with the Australian federal police in 2006 he led a clandestine mission to this region why are so many Australian police organized crime investigations ending up here in Macau is where the tri are it's where the organized crime is it's where the drugs are and ultimately to close that Loop this is where the money ends up his Target was a Triad known as the company which Remains the most powerful drug trafficking Syndicate in the world for more than 10 years it's been shipping billions of dollars worth of ice and cocaine into Australia its biggest problem has always been getting the dirty cash back to China but in Crown Casino Triad bosses found the ideal solution casinos are cash intensive operations there are millions of transactions and they are a soft touch for money laundering how perfect a system is that for a group like the company having a channel like uh casinos in the ecosystem with the junket operators allows the money to be repatriated without the currency actually physically being moved so it's a perfect system of moving money without actually physically moving it coming up Breaking Bad someone implicated in human trafficking brothel drugs and dirty money bundles of cash coming out of a plastic bank Crown's deep underworld connections do you think Crown cares that some of its junked operators are non organized crime figures the power of the dollar no and how they threaten Australia's national security this underbelly of Chinese Communist party influence is something that we're only just beginning to understand that's next on 60 Minutes so what we're seeing here Nick is is the money end of a drug trafficking Syndicate to the top of your screen there you'll see a man coming down with a green and white plastic shopping bag that contains $191,000 in dirty cash which has been derived from drug trafficking activities it's May 2012 and in a green grer in Suburban Melbourne an international money laundering operation is underway he's just walked off screen awaiting the arrival of Roy moo uh another member of of The Syndicate who is used to uh transact the money laundering at Crown Casino his this man Roy moo is a licensed junket operator at Crown Casino which pays him to lure Asian VIP gamblers to its high roller rooms he'll go off screen here and meet with the runner from the drug Syndicate where but on this day he's both a crown junked operator and a money launderer because he also works for a powerful tribe Syndicate called the company and you'll see that the shopping bag has changed hands into Roy Moo's possession the company is paying him from that location Roy appears at the crow Casino casier desk his task to funnel drug money to Hong Kong via Crown casino's bank accounts it's bundles of cash coming out of a plastic bag I look at this and uh there are neon lights flashing to me this is very very clearly it's a money laundering activity former AF P assistant commissioner Roman quig says Crown Casino has long been a soft target for money laundering Roy moo the man handing the money over said the reason he didn't go to a bank but he chose Crown Casino was it was far easier and far fewer questions asked what does that tell us about Crown's process well look it's far simpler in this environment where Roy moo has an account with crown there is money a wash through Crown C this is a relatively small amount in the context of the money that moves through Crown this is a drop in the oce when it comes to the likely proceeds of crime drug trafficking and other crime being washed through Crown yes Nick in reality we're talking hundreds of millions billions of dollars of dirty money that gets laundered every year through entities like [Music] Crown at this point you might be asking yourself why should Crown Casino be blamed for the actions of a single Rogue junket operator but this case isn't a one-off our investigation has uncovered Crown junket after Crown junket with underworld ties and suggests Crown was either willfully blind or recklessly indifferent a number of the entities that Crown Casino are dealing with are very clearly linked to transnational crime entities and syndicates CRA Casino might be well justified in saying Hang on we're a casino we ain't the cops we're not AO how on Earth are women to know if so and so is a Triad is that not a fair call Crown is a casino operator um it is a proxy Financial Services entity but when you look at the risk profile of the individuals that cran is dealing with and the exposure that it has to some of the criminality and the money laundering activity we talked about in my view that uh that obligates Crown to have high levels of due diligence Crown socalled due diligence is barely evident in its confidential Company files instead they reveal how Crown bent over backwards to work with macau's biggest junket operator Sun City Sun City key personalities have demonstrated links to numerous Triad societies and organized crime figures in a secret report obtained by us one of the world's largest bookmakers the Hong Kong Jockey Club revealed its own deep mistrust of Sun City which has always denied any wrongo intelligence sources advise that are of interest to the Australian authorities in relation to money laundering activities for these reasons the Hong Kong Jockey Club has blackbanded Sun City in contrast Crown Casino has rolled out the red carpet paying Sun City tens of millions of dollars flying its VIP gamblers to a Australia on private jets helping Sun City get visas for them and providing the junket with its very own high roller room at Crown Melbourne they would know the background of the Jung operators and what happens when one of your key junket Partners is exposed as a crook then you need to uh remove that person uh from your list of uh Partners you can do business this weet the Revelation that Crown is working with Triad connected junkets doesn't exactly shock gaming analyst benley do you think Crown cares that some of its junked operators are wanted criminals known organized crime figures the power of the dollar no Crown has also jumped into bed with a Melbourne brothel boss with links to alleged sex trafficking as well as running his prostitution business Simon pan is also one of Crown's junket operators we just a Stones Throw from Crown Casino there's number 39 salmon pan brothel Court files reveal he runs a notorious prostitution business repeatedly investigated by the federal police and which has been implicated in organized crime and the suspected trafficking of women from Asia I think it's extremely disturbing that the casino would have a contractual relationship with someone implicated in human trafficking anti-trafficking Advocate Courtney ke says a simple Google search reveals federal police were forced to rescue trafficked women from pan brothel she says it beggar belief that Crown wouldn't know about Simon pan what was going on inside its four walls there's been more than one AFP raid resulting in the rescue of at least two women and this is all publicly available and it has all the Hallmarks of a human trafficking situation but Simon pan is small fry compared to Crown's most jubia business partner an international criminal fugitive and Chinese Communist Party aligned figure meet the man they call Mr Chinatown he's been Crown's most lucrative Melbourne junket operator and he's responsible for enticing China's biggest whales to Melbourne and Perth to drop millions of dollars on crowns High Roller tables it's an arrangement that's made both him and the casino Filthy Rich what do you know about Mr Chinatown I heard that he was the single biggest uh junket operator in Australia this is Mr chinatown's $15 million mansion in turac an affluent inner city suburb of Melbourne and this his spectacular country estate wow a property where he takes some of Crown's highest rollers offering them the chance to shoot guns and Hunt animals to find out more we went undercover answering an advertisement for a hunting tour Tom we allowed to shoot the one the whole hunting setup here is illegal can I shoot it yeah you can but then Mr Chinatown doesn't care much for the law so who is the Mysterious Mr Chinatown his real name is Tom jaia and we've uncovered multiple Chinese court cases which suggest a dark past he's been investigated by Chinese authorities for serious Financial crime but he fled to Australia before he faced Justice he's also been accused in cour cour cases of extortion and standover tactics and even of arranging for acid to be thrown in a man's face he's always denied any wrongdoing in Australia he works with crown Casino as well as several organizations closely aligned with the Chinese Communist Party the Chinese Communist party has never been shy about working with people of dubious backgrounds Alex josy is is a China scholar at the Australian strategic policy Institute his investigation shows Mr Chinatown heads multiple organizations in Melbourne linked to Chinese Communist party activities these groups work to influence the local Chinese community and the Australian political system this underbelly of Chinese Communist party influence is something that we're only just beginning to understand last year the federal government passed law to try to stop this Chinese government interference but joski says Mr chinatowns groups still operate in secrecy he'd be able to build political influence uh build networks with politicians and then quite possibly send that information back to Beijing through his uh junkets he'd also be able to bring large amounts of cash over borders and also help bring Personnel from China over to Australia do you think that Crown Casino should be doing business with junkard operators with alleged criminal pasts running Communist party influence outfits in Australia well the risk for uh Crown casinos is that it's unwittingly becoming a a conduit or a facilitator in some genuinely uh pernicious and possibly even illegal activities you think Crown's being silly or crown just doesn't care I think it doesn't care coming up the high stakes Discovery what our police found on a private jet the fact that the president's cousin and Crown's junk at Mr Chinatown well on a private jet is politically explosive and need an Aussie Visa just call Crown how many people did Crown help get visas to come to Australia two two or 300 that's next on 60 Minutes on a Winter's Day in 2016 a private jet idols on the runway at colen gatter airport Australian federal police officers think the plane might be smuggling dirty cash they've received a security alert that one of the plane's passengers is a suspected money launderer his name is Tom Jiao but he's better known as Mr Chinatown the multi-millionaire is Crown Casino royalty he's been their top junket operator and the man Crown Rel on to fly in some of China's wealthiest people to its high roller rooms in Australia officers find little cash during their search but what they do uncover is so disturbing it's still being scrutinized by Australia security agencies 3 years on so these are the flight records from the flight in question we can reveal that Crown Casino asked a trusted security company run by ex cops to work for the Chinatown this Arrangement led to a serving Victorian police officer who was suspended at the time to be on board that day as Mr chinatown's private security the serving cop's name is Greg leather and we can see him in this photo providing shooting lessons at Mr chinatown's hunting property in country Victoria to me it raises a very strong flag um former border Force Chief Roman quad says law enforcement agents should not be working for Crown's highroller junket agents working security for a junket operator which is transporting people who've been flagged for money laundering I I don't think you can get a higher red flag than that but the red flags keep coming also on board the private jet that day was a passenger of intense interest to Australia's National Security Agency AO he's a man with with extraordinary connections to China's political and business Elite someone who's known as a Communist Party prining his name is Ming chai and he is the cousin of none other than the president of China Shi jingping he's a prining he'd be well connected and he has a large uh significant business interests as a princeling as the cousin of xiin ping what sort of connections would MinGa have had to Elite business circles Elite political circles Elite State security circles in China he'd have friends in the military friends in Security Services friends in business because these are the connections that are necessary to profit in China China expert Alex joski says Ming chai's Blood Ties to the president Place him among the country's most powerful Elite and crowns internal files obtained by us reveal feel even more ningai is a the VIP customer of the casino a very very important High Roller who drops millions of dollars on its tables every year he's also a business partner of Crown's junket operators Mr Chinatown and brothel boss Simon pan he has an Australian passport and lists his business address at this Mansion right here in Melbourne how could shiin ping you the most powerful politician on the planet how could his cousin be living in Melbourne with an Australian passport and no one in Australia not it's it's it's incredible I think um it just shows how much more we have to learn about China and the way the Chinese Communist Party really operates the fact that the president's cousin Ming chai and crowns junket Mr Chinatown were on a private jet whose passengers are of intense interest to Australian in security and policing agencies is politically explosive it also begs a question how many other Crown vvips flying in from overseas are of interest to Australian authorities my job is pretty much like applying visa for uh customers before she was arrested in late 2016 Jenny Jung arranged private jets and visas for crowns VIP and V VIP customers she says high rollers were not only given the Royal Treatment by Crown but the Australian government as well how many people did Crown help get visas to come to Australia every year probably 300 two two or 300 Crown will writing an email to culate about uh they guaranteed that the customer will have a nice journey to Crown and hope they could get Grand a Visa for him quicker so the the Australian consulate was helping Crown give people vases as I know yes internal emails reveal an extremely cozy relationship between crown and the Australian consulates in China the company even had an emergency hotline to Consular staff for when they needed quick visas where we may have hundreds of Millions millions of dollars of turnover at stake in those situations the consulate is very understanding and will do everything they can to help us you were suspicious yes what do you think was going on K is a big very big company in Australia and uh I think probably like they pay more tax than anybody else and they support the government maybe so probably like uh it's just like a back and force between help each other the casinos and the entities that run them both at a company and an individual level are powerful they're powerful companies and individuals with Deep Pockets and lots of influence before he was sacked as border Force commissioner last year Roman quad experienced for himself just how well connected Crown is in Australia's political scene he says he was encouraged by several members of parliament to start fast tracking crowns Chinese high rollers through our borders there was a time when some of your senior agency figures within border Force came to you and said boss Crown's been pushing behind the scenes what was your reaction there were ministers that approached the agency uh approached me personally indicating that uh crown and subsequently the uh junket operators uh that worked with crown weren't receiving a facilitated service for private jets coming into Australia into Perth and Melbourne um and we're seeking some arrangements which smoothed out the processes there a little you mean they wanted a quicker passage for these mysterious sometimes people coming in the private jets essentially uh being able to land on a private jet at Melbourne Airport receed the minimal amount of clearances put them in cars get them into the casino and spending money how many ministers did Crown push for this favor I spoke to a sitting Member of Parliament in addition to two ministers it's very clear that uh there was a powerful constituency behind the uh the on treaty coming up when the chips are down Waltz Crown's next bet you think because Crown brings so much money into the economy Regulators prepared to to turn the blind ey those obvious organized crime risks yes and Jenny counts the cost you a criminal of a life destroyed why you fire dump us as you napkin that's next on 60 Minutes it's been a tough few years for James Packer in business and in love has the sparkle worn off this glittering Romance but news he's offloading almost half his stake in Crown Casino rolls the dice in a new chapter for the billionaire Packer has sold almost half of his stake in Casino giant Crown resorts to a Chinese Entertainment Company it also signals Australia's largest gambling Empire has finally put behind it the most traumatic event to ever hit the company the arrest of its staff in China for breaking gambling laws it's really hard it's not only hard for me I think it's hard for everybody the same can't be said for Jenny Jung and her Chinese colleagues as though being arrested and imprisoned wasn't traumatic enough she says she felt abandoned by Crown after being convicted for gambling crimes you've left Crown but Crown's really not left to you has it not really you wanted pretending like nothing happened but that's not true you're a Criminal by letting its sales staff in China go Crown risked diving even deeper into the criminal underworld of junket operators its casinos in Melbourne and Perth still rely heavily on the Chinese high roller market and the junket operators who entic them here are still very much active you call the Triads a cancer you say that it's well known that the Triads are deeply involved in junkets yet we have crown casino energetically and actively trying to work and form business Partnerships with these same junkets how can a responsible corporate citizen be doing such activity the best the corporate citizen can do when you're swimming in dark Waters is at least eliminate those that are obviously Triad related or organized crime related and try your best to to separate the cha from the wheat that that is an effort I think that's worth that's worth making former police chief Steve Vickers now runs his own political and corporate risk consultancy in Hong Kong he says casinos must have robust vetting programs to weed out suspected criminals from their business dealing you will never eliminate all tried involvement in junk it it's just not possible and it's not an easy job uh but it does require one four-letter word w i l l you need the will to do that the mass of data leaked to us clearly shows Crown lacks that will and according to Industry veteran Ben Lee so too does Victoria's Casino regulator Victorian Casino commission is wiely regarded as very pro crown very friendly to its Crown the casino regulator which is meant to be keeping an IR Crown is proc Crown yes why is it regarded as proc Crown I can't recall any major event where Crown has been uh suitably uh penalized for infractions of the law you think because Crown brings so much money into the economy into the Victorian economy yes Regulators prepared to turn the Blind Eye to those obvious organized crime risks yes not much chop for the people of Victoria who want a real regulator [Music] no Roman how important Will the chinesee highroller Market be to Crown's Sydney bangaroo Vision oh the Chinese Market's critical in Sydney Crown is building a shiny new monument to gambling but its success will be hugely dependent on the work of its junked operators this entire Crown bangaroo complex is targeted towards the high wealth Wales in Asia the $2.2 billion casino at bangaroo is exclusively for high rollers but as a former cop with Decades of experience in moneya laundering and organized crime investigations Roman quad leue questions whe the crown can be trusted to run yet another casino on home soil why is nobody targeting Crown to say is Crown fit to hold a gaming license uh look if I were to issue a report card I wouldn't give it a pass at this point in time not from what I've seen I know that organized crime is prolific in Australia we are a washed with drugs and Drug Money the crown has an obligation to ensure that it's anti-money laundering systems are in place and operating correctly I think it needs to do a hell of a lot more and it seems Crown shareholders agree they've launched a class action against Crown to recoup the Lost value of their shares following the dearle in China they alleged Crown knew all along what they were doing there was was illegal do you think cran Casino deserves to have a license in Australia I don't I don't think so they lie to the staff and we feel like we've been used and then get dumped by taking a job with Australia's biggest casino company Jenny Jung's life has been forever changed everybody has a criminal record and in China the criminal record is a big issue but by speaking out Jenny wants Crown to be held accountable for its actions why you fire us all of us and especially who made so much money for you why you dumped us as used napkin like a used napkin yes James Packer didn't want to be interviewed for this story but he told us he had no knowledge or involvement in the issues we've raised tonight and despite being the major shareholder and public face of the company he emphasized he was not a director of crown resorts at the time its employees were imprisoned in China and hadn't been for many months before that a Crown Resort spokesperson in Melbourne told us the company doesn't discuss its relationships with junket operators and other individuals we were also told that even though 19 of its staff pleaded guilty and were convicted and imprisoned in China Crown didn't breach Chinese law it seems corporate arrogance has hit a new low Nick McKenzie will have more Revelations on this story in tomorrow's nine newspapers including the age and the Sydney Morning Herald

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 808,050

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Sarah Abo, Crown casino, China, crime, corruption, James Packer, Crown resorts, prison, triad, junket, money, gambling, nick mckenzie, nick mckenzie reporter, nick mckenzie 60 minutes, nick mckenzie investigative reporter, nick mckenzie journalist, nick mckenzie crown casino investigation, sex trafficking, money laundering, drug trade, crown melbourne, crown sydney, crown china, crown james packer, james packer china

Id: kiO490GQoqg

Length: 50min 22sec (3022 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 26 2023