SkyCity Adelaide's $67m money laundering penalty gets court approval
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The news: SkyCity Adelaide will face a $67 million civil penalty for historical non-compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, Federal Court of Australia Judge Michael Lee has ordered.
The context: In an immediate judgment following a brief penalty hearing between the casino operator and anti money laundering regulator Austrac, Lee also noted an agreement between the parties to pay $3 million in legal costs within 14 days of the judgment.
The historical non-compliance dates to a period between 7 December, 2016, to 14 December, 2022.
SkyCity announced on Thursday it will be able to appeal a South Australia Court of Appeal decision in a long-running dispute with the State's Treasurer over gaming revenue before the High Court.
What they said: In handing down his decision, Lee noted that Austrac and SkyCity had said the profit and benefit SkyCity Adelaide had derived from the illegal conduct "is not able to be meaningfully calculated".
Lee said while the issue isn't "determinative to the relief sought in this case [...] it is not unduly cynical to remark that the reason why corporations engage in unlawful conduct is usually by reason of the desire to focus on the maximisation of profit".
"If as the High Court reminds us the whole nature of pecuniary penalties is to ensure that the demands of deterrence are properly fulfilled, it cannot be right that a corporation that has engaged in wrongdoing and has been found by [the] court to have engaged in such conduct can retain the rewards of engaging in unlawful conduct," he said.
The source: Federal Court of Australia
