A man was arrested at Crown Casino last week and charged with 88 counts of fraud after investigators found he had scammed a single victim, borrowing more than AU$2.5 million for a non-existent business opportunity. Nearly all of the money was lost in countless gambling sessions at the casino.
The 38-year-old man from Dianella, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, allegedly duped a man who he knew from a religious congregation. The accused, who remains anonymous, was arrested after the Financial Crimes Squad started an official investigation into his unexplained wealth. The special force found out that between June 2017 and November 2019 he borrowed money from the victim multiple times.
The amounts varied from $1,000 to $200,000 and in total, the massive sum of $2,596,000 was fraudulently obtained, according to the police. The accused man gambled away nearly all of the money at the Crown Casino in multiple gambling sessions. As a result of the alleged fraud, the victim and his wife were now in serious financial trouble, the Western Australian Police Force spokesman added.
The gambler was charged with 88 separate counts of gaining benefit by fraud. He was refused bail when he appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court on Friday and is next due in court on January 17, 2020. The investigation into this unprecedented deception continues and now the police are checking whether other people might have been scammed in the same manner.
Nearly $2.6 Million “Borrowed” in an Elaborate Fraudulent Scheme
Police says that the accused man did not have any personal relationship with the victim. They were only church acquaintances and the religious congregation included members from all across Perth. However, the victim trusted the accused and loaned him the money as part of a business undertaking, for which the 38-year-old presented paperwork. The documentation, however, turned out to be fraudulent and the business opportunity never really existed.
As a result of this elaborate scheme, the victim and his wife lost all their savings. They were going to use the money for their retirement, according to the police. As of November 2019, the couple was repaid only $41,000. The rest of the money was allegedly gambled away by the accused at the Crown Casino in Perth. However, they may not be the only victims of the fraud and police is now investigating whether other people have been approached by the same man.
This is not the first time the operator of the casino is making the news. Crown Resorts, the owner and operator of the Crown Perth, is now under investigation in another state. The company, which is Australia’s top gambling and entertainment group, was associated with a corruption scandal that led to an official inquiry into its connections with foreign crime syndicates. The operator of Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth is now being investigated and facing multiple corruption and money laundering charges.
- Author
Daniel Williams
