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Westpac’s King Just Got the Toughest Job in Australian Banking

Westpac Banking Corp. career banker Peter King has just taken on one of the hardest jobs in Australian banking. As well as navigating Australia’s oldest bank through its first recession in a generation, King must restore the lender’s battered reputation after allegations of a massive breach of anti-money laundering… Read More

Australian security business ‘acted as a front’ for $100 million money laundering syndicate

A sixth person has been charged in connection with a south-west Sydney security business that allegedly acted as a front to launder $100 million from organised crime groups in Australia and abroad. Assure Protection Services in Guildford was raided by the NSW Criminal Groups Squad in July last year, after… Read More

Human rights sanctions under microscope in Australia

Human rights abusers should be banned from entering Australia or have their assets frozen, federal politicians have been told. A parliamentary committee has heard evidence about whether Australia should enshrine a so-called Magnitsky Act. The laws are named after lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow jail after accusing… Read More

30th March 2020

PayPal Australia warns external audit into financial crime could hurt results

PayPal Australia has warned the company could take a financial hit after the completion of an external audit into the company’s compliance with financial crime laws. “The company cannot estimate the potential impact, if any, on our business or financial statements at this time,” the company said in the reporting… Read More

30th March 2020

Westpac still some way off settlement with AUSTRAC, court hears

Money-laundering regulator AUSTRAC and Westpac say they are still a way apart in their settlement negotiations despite the court expecting a trial into the bank’s alleged breaches to be heard by summer. The Federal Court on Monday heard AUSTRAC and Westpac are moving towards a settlement that includes some admissions… Read More

26th March 2020

Accountants at centre of multi-million-dollar ‘dummy director’ scam shut down

An accounting firm at the centre of a massive tax avoidance scheme which exploited homeless and drug-addicted people has had its registration cancelled in the wake of an ABC investigation. Last month the ABC revealed a group of Victorian accountants were using people addicted to drugs and alcohol, the… Read More

25th March 2020

Sydney men jailed for money laundering

Two Sydney men have been jailed for their involvement in a $17 million money-laundering operation they helped run alongside a terrorist sympathiser. Ahmad Ali and Fouad Moussa, both 28, were sentenced in the NSW District Court after pleading guilty to the “unsophisticated” scheme which lasted six months before they were… Read More

24th March 2020

As Coronavirus Spreads Globally so are Cybersecurity Threats

By David Klein OCCRP — As COVID-19 shut down the world in less than a month, cybercriminals seized the opportunity to use the Internet to defraud and blackmail people and companies. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported that their Scamwatch service has tracked nearly 100 coronavirus related… Read More

20th March 2020

Compliance whistleblower says he was blacklisted: ‘I can’t even get a job picking up glasses’

A whistleblower and former employee of ClubsNSW is suing the organisation for around $2 million. Troy Stolz, who worked for ClubsNSW for nine years, is taking legal action in the Federal Circuit Court alleging bullying, sham contracting, underpayment and other breaches of the Fair Work Act. The industry group represents… Read More

2nd March 2020

Financial crimes watchdog Austrac under fire over delays, alleged bungles in Westpac child sex affair

The financial crimes watchdog, one of the lead agencies in the Department of Home Affairs’ push to combat online child sex exploitation, has potentially bungled a case after sitting on evidence of potential crimes for more than a year. But the watchdog, Austrac, was not only too slow to call… Read More

26th February 2020

Melco under regulatory scrutiny on three continents over money laundering, bribery concerns

European regulators have identified vulnerabilities in the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing measures at Melco Resorts’ casino in Cyprus, an inquiry into Crown has heard. The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, Moneyval, said in December 2019 that it had discovered “weaknesses” in compliance at the single casino on the… Read More

26th February 2020

Australia’s Labor MPs split on cash-ban crackdown aimed at money launderers

Labor MPs have split over backing a government bill aimed at cracking down on crime syndicates that launder money through the black-market economy by banning the use of cash transactions of more than $10,000. The clash between MPs of Labor’s Left and Right factions over the proposed laws is threatening… Read More

24th February 2020

Crown casino hosted organised crime target as he built a gambling empire

In 2017, Cheng Ting Kong was riding high. He co-owned a multi-million dollar business bringing high-roller gamblers from China into casinos around the country and he was busy building a $75 million dollar stake in Australia’s horse racing industry. But behind the scenes, Australia’s national criminal intelligence agency was watching… Read More

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