Crown Casino sting, by Carly Crawford and Ellen Whinnett - Sunday Herald Sun - 21st June 2009

REVEALED: MORE than $23 million in stolen money was laundered through Crown casino as part of one of the world's biggest frauds.

Three Chinese conmen have been jailed for up to 25 years each for embezzling more than $605 million from the Bank of China.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal that $23.6 million of the stolen money made its way on to Crown's tables from the thieves and their illegal companies.

One of the conmen, Yu Zhendong, has told a United States court the gang spent their dirty money in Australia.

"We've been to the Crown in Melbourne and also the Gold Coast casino," he said, before being sentenced to 12 years' jail.

Two other ringleaders of the gang - Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun - are now serving 25 years and 22 years respectively for their roles in the global fraud and money-laundering scheme.

Yu told a court he occasionally used his alias, Yu Wing Chung, to enter Australia illegally.

Documents lodged with the District Court of Nevada in the US show the conmen and associates diverted millions of dollars into Crown's bank accounts in 1998 and 2000.

They moved up to $7.5 million in a single transaction - money that courts in China and the US say was stolen.

But it appears no alarm bells were rung in Australia. Crown refused to comment on the case. (Credit: Sunday Herald Sun)

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