SkyCity-AUSTRAC A$67m AML/CTF penalty given Federal Court approval

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered SkyCity Adelaide to pay a A$67m penalty to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre for breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.

SkyCity has also been ordered to pay the Australian Government agency’s costs of $3m.

Civil penalty proceedings were initially commenced by AUSTRAC in December 2022, analysing historical contraventions of the AML/CTF Act during the period of December 7, 2016 to December 14, 2022.

This action stemmed from a compliance campaign initially started by the agency in September 2019.

Last month, SkyCity and AUSTRAC filed joint submissions with the Federal Court, with the operator admitting that it operated in contravention of the AML/CTF Act under two different sections.

Section 81 – its AML/CTF Programs did not meet the requirements of the AML/CTF Act and AML/CTF Rules.

Section 36 – it did not carry out appropriate ongoing customer due diligence with respect to cer..