Crown whistleblower sheds light on 2016 China arrests

Monday 29th of July 2019

A former employee of Crown Resorts has accused the company of engineering an illegal high-roller gambling promotion operation across China that led to the arrest of herself and 18 colleagues in 2016, local media reports.

The Melbourne-based casino company made the headlines in 2016 after 19 of its employees were arrested for their involvement in illegal gambling promotion in China.

While the issue was largely put to rest, a year-long investigation by The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes has now uncovered further secrets to the Crown-China controversy.

The investigation has found that Crown was prepared to work with junket operators backed by Asian organized crime syndicates and that it had helped fast track hundreds of visas for Chinese nationals.

Jenny Jiang, a former administration and logistics officer of Crown Resorts, said that the company instructed their sales staff to embrace certain junket operators, to encourage them to think of Australia, rather than Macau when arranging trips for high-roller clients.

Jiang said that sales staff were also instructed to offer luxury gifts, free gambling cash, known as “lucky money” and free use of private jets and hotel suites to lure Chinese gamblers to its properties in Australia.

The biggest whales were also offered help securing immigration to Australia, along with schooling for their children and property investment in Melbourne and Sydney.

When it all came tumbling down, Ms. Jiang said she was offered a $60,000 payment offer from Crown, which included a condition to stay quiet.

She accused the company of treating its Chinese staff like a “used napkin you throw in the trash can”.

She has also accused the casino operator of not only disregarding Chinese law, but also the welfare of its staff. A full interview with Jiang was aired on Sunday night by 60 minutes.