Crown Resorts chief Ciaran Curruthers in sudden departure

Crown Resorts national boss Ciarán Curruthers is stepping down suddenly, just two years after he was parachuted in to fix up the scandal-ridden company. Mr Carruthers will finish up by the end of the year, telling staff on Monday that with “the work of rebuilding” Crown “well under way” it was time to pursue other interests. Former Crown Perth boss David Tsai, who was promoted to president and chief operating officer of the group only four weeks ago, will run the national business until a new chief executive is appointed. The exit is the latest in a string of management changes in recent months as Crown tries to address trading weakness in Sydney and Melbourne. Mr Carruthers was recruited in 2022 from the huge Wynn Macau gaming and hotels complex, where he was chief operating officer, to lead the rehabilitation of Crown after inquiries found it unfit to holds its casino licences in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. He took charge of a new management team put in by US private equity giant Blackstone, which committed to overhauling Crown’s culture and compliance systems after buying the James Packer-controlled business for $8.9 billion in mid-2022. “With the work of rebuilding well underway, I have decided that now is an appropriate time to depart and pursue other interests,” Mr Carruthers told staff on Monday. “I will leave Crown as a stronger, compliant, and transformed business with a strong and experienced leadership team. “I couldn’t be prouder of the work we’ve accomplished together. “We have successfully steered Crown Resorts through a period of intensive transformation and remediation over two and a half years, culminating in Crown Melbourne and Sydney being deemed suitable by their respective state regulators and the Crown Perth transformation program now well progressed.” He will finish up at “year end” after helping Mr Tsai transition into his interim leadership from Sunday. Damning inquiries in NSW, Victoria and WA found Crown breached ant-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws, citing “disgraceful” conduct that was deemed “variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative”. The group was forced to accept the supervision of outside monitors to survive and has since $700 million in regulatory fines. Crown chairman John Borghetti said Mr Carruthers had led the group through “a period of intensive transformation and remediation”. In particular, the former airline boss called out Mr Carruthers’ expanded reforms to prevent problem gambling. “Under Ciarán’s leadership, Crown has successfully introduced cashless gaming, mandatory carded play, and implemented its world-leading Crown PlaySafe harm minimisation program which has resulted in Crown’s properties becoming the safest places for gaming in the world,” Mr Borghetti said. The one major public blip in his tenure was an investigation in late-2023 into allegations that he intervened to allow patrons back into Crown Melbourne after they had been ejected by security. He was cleared in February after the probe found no wrongdoing. His departure comes as Crown battles the fallout from a weaker economy, especially at its Melbourne and Sydney hubs. Just three months ago, it cut 1000 jobs across the country, blaming weaker tourism and tighter gaming restrictions at its three casinos.