Melbourne

Crown Resorts’ lawyers have warned the federal court that the casino operator would face “significant financial hardship” if forced to immediately pay its $450 million settlement with Australia’s financial crimes regulator Austrac.

Crown and Austrac jointly agreed to the settlement, over the group’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failings, in May but need court approval.

Crown Resorts claims in court it would face “financial hardship” if forced to immediately pay its $450m settlement. The settlement would see Crown take two years to complete the $450 million payment.

Justice Lee said that the $450 million figure may be acceptable, albeit at the lower end of an acceptable range, but indicated that the actual value of the settlement - once the instalment payments are taken into account - is just $405 million and might not be within the acceptable range.

“If they have to pay the whole amount in a lump sum, they need to enter into negotiations, and the CFO [chief financial officer] of the company says, ‘I’m uncertain as to the outcome of such negotiations, given the impact of the challenging trading conditions’,” Crown’s barrister, Philip Crutchfield, KC, told the court today.

The hearing continues.