The Australian financial crime watchdog, AUSTRAC, has called out London-listed Entain. The company allegedly failed repeatedly to follow anti-money laundering rules. According to them, Entain did not put proper checks in place. It failed to monitor how some of its top customers were funding their multi-million dollar betting habits year after year.
Millions of dollars moved in and out of customer accounts between 2019 and 2022. New court filings revealed various cases of suspicious activity during that period.
Accusing Entain of what they called serious and systematic failures to comply with anti-money laundering, as well as counter-terrorism financing laws, AUSTRAC took things to court back in December. Entain admitted it could face a hefty fine once everything plays out.
AUSTRAC filed the case with the Federal Court in New South Wales. It points to a number of issues connected to four customer accounts spread across different brands of Entain. These details just became public on March 31.
AUSTRAC submitted more than 640 pages outlining how board and senior executives of Entain may have put not just the company, but even their banking partners, at risk by years of compliance failures.
AUSTRAC claims that Entain lacked proper oversight. This failure opened the door to potential money laundering risks. The risks involved at least 17 customers and $152 million.
In some cases, the customers used pseudonyms or funneled money by third parties. AUSTRAC stated that Entain accepted deposits into betting accounts in ways that could hide the depositor’s identity. The methods also obscured the source of the funds.
AUSTRAC also raised concerns about how Entain handled payments. It says the company took in money from sources it couldn’t properly trace or verify. AUSTRAC also accused Entain of failing to properly monitor transactions and assess the risks associated with its customers.
