Tinian Dynasty Agrees To Settle U.S. Anti-Money-Laundering Case
The Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino which is located in the Northern Mariana Islands was raided by the Internal Revenue Service investigators in a sting operation earlier this year where authorities pretended to be Russian businessmen who wanted to spend large sums of money at the casino.
Authorities discovered that the casino workers did not follow the rules and regulations pertaining to the anti-money laundering act and were more than willing to bend the rules to accommodate the requests of these VIP gamblers. Based on the evidence collected by U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino was hit with a record fine of $75 million.
FinCEN had imposed this record fine because it believed that the casino had willfully and knowingly broken anti-money-laundering rules on a consistent basis. Based on recent reports, the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino has made a non-prosecution agreement and agreed to forfeit $3.04 million in return. This will also be the biggest forfeiture in the history of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a part of the common wealth of the United States.
The IRS criminal investigation into the casino revealed that the Tinian casino had not filed over 3,600 mandatory reports for high value currency transactions between 2009 and 2013. Any amount that is over $10,000 is considered to be a high value transaction and it is mandatory for banks and casinos to report these transactions. The total value of transactions not reported during this period is estimated to be over $138 million.
As part of the non-prosecution agreement, the Tinian Dynasty will now have to cooperate with U.S. authorities in the on-going criminal investigation. The casino will also have to quickly change its policies and re-train its staff to ensure that it fully adheres to the gambling regulations outlined by the U.S. The Tinian Dynasty has enlisted the services of Spectrum Gaming Group who will work with the casino to ensure that all aspects of the Tinian Dynasty operation are in full compliance with U.S. law.
FinCEN also recently fined an executive who worked with the Tinian Dynasty for assisting VIP customers to breach anti-money laundering roles. The executive admitted to breaking the law and was also banned from representing any financial institution that has business interests in the United States. FinCEN continues to pay special attention to casinos based in the United States and their stance on anti-money laundering practices.
