Law firm Maurice Blackburn lodged a claim in the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday accusing Crown of engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct from December 2014 through to October this year by telling investors it had"robust"or effective controls in place to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
The firm also alleges Crown acted contrary to its shareholders'interests and – in a novel legal approach – will ask the court to consider ordering Crown to buy back shares from affected investors.
Crown declined to comment.
Maurice Blackburn is already pursuingCrown through the Federal Court seeking millions of dollars for shareholders who lost money in a $1.3 billion share price crash after 19 Crown employees were arrested for gambling crimes in China in 2016. That case is set to go to trial in 2022.
Crown has been rocked this year by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority inquiry into the group,which has revealed,among other things,a systemic failure to prevent money laundering at its Melbourne and Perth casinos and in patron bank accounts.
The lawyer running the case,Maurice Blackburn class actions principal Miranda Nagy,said shareholders would have expected Crown to have best-practice compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulation,especially since the group claimed publicly to take those obligations seriously.
"Instead it appears Crown’s systems left the company potentially exposed to criminal activity
happening on its premises and through its bank accounts,"Ms Nagy said.