Crown Resorts has sued Riverstone International in the Supreme Court of Victoria, alleging that the insurer refused to pay under excess directors-and-officers policies intended to help meet Crown’s $72.5 million shareholder class-action settlement.
Crown is seeking payment under the policies and interest, although its court documents do not specify the amount it says Riverstone owes. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Riverstone had not filed a defence when the case was reported, leaving unclear why Crown says it and other insurers told the casino operator to proceed with settlement discussions as if it were “uninsured”.
The disputed cover sat above Crown’s primary directors-and-officers insurance, which covered shareholder suits and protected directors and executives from personal financial loss. Crown says it had effectively exhausted that primary layer before the settlement, with AIG paying $7.5 million. Riverstone held 50% of the risk in Crown’s fourth and fifth excess-policy layers.
The underlying proceeding, Greg Lieberman v Crown Resorts Limited, was filed in 2020 and has since been settled with the approval of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Crown agreed to the $72.5 million settlement in 2025 without admitting wrongdoing.
The shareholder case covered people who acquired or held Crown shares between Dec. 11, 2014, and Oct. 18, 2020. It alleged that Crown made misleading or deceptive statements about anti-money-laundering compliance systems, particularly in its VIP International Business and Crown Junket Program, and failed to disclose related risks to the market.
The proceeding followed a sharp decline in Crown’s share price after the company announced on Oct. 19, 2020, that AUSTRAC had opened a formal enforcement investigation into Crown Melbourne’s compliance with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing laws. Maurice Blackburn represented lead plaintiff Greg Lieberman on a “no-win-no-fee basis”:https://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/content/dam/mbl/en/class-actions/current/crown/Crown%20Resorts%20Shareholder%20Group%20Proceeding%20Summary%20Statement.pdf; the action had no third-party litigation funder.
The dispute over insurance follows broader regulatory consequences for Crown. The Federal Court ordered Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth to pay a $450 million penalty, plus AUSTRAC’s costs, for breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act. Crown admitted that programs at the two casinos lacked appropriate risk assessments, systems, controls and board and senior-management oversight.
Crown, which operates casinos in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, was taken private when Blackstone acquired it for about $8.9 billion in 2022. It is no longer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
