Legal breaches allowed Westpac customers to pay for child sex undetected, Austrac alleges
by Ben Butler from on (#4VDHA)
Agency alleges Westpac failed to monitor 12 customers who made transactions consistent with child exploitation typologies
Westpac's failure to obey anti-money laundering and counter-terror finance laws allowed a customer to make payments to a person in the Philippines who was later arrested for child sex trafficking and livestreaming child sex shows, the financial intelligence agency alleges.
The allegation is just one of more than 23 million breaches of the law - involving more than $11bn in transactions - the bank is accused of in a federal court lawsuit filed by Austrac on Wednesday.
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