This is especially clear in the second half, when all the physical hijinks involving Jeff trying to undo the transformation are dispensed with, and he has to confront the change being permanent.įrom the outset, Van Peebles is fearlessly confrontational about the subject of race, and "Watermelon Man" is a good time capsule of the prevailing attitudes of the early 70s. However, one morning Jeff wakes up with dark skin, and the film becomes more earnestly critical of the state of American race relations. The film was marketed as a broad comedy and the filmmaking often reflects this, with its colorful stylistic touches and TV sitcom visuals. And initially, "Watermelon Man" is a rare satire on white America from a black point of view. Godfrey Cambridge spends the first twenty minutes of the film in whiteface playing a caricature of a white American bigot named Jeff Gerber. And even though I'm not white, I found myself relating more to his view of the world than the black hero of "Sweetback." "Watermelon Man" was a studio comedy aimed at white audiences and the lead character is for all intents and purposes a white man. However, it was a film made for black Americans. "Sweet Sweetback" had a far larger and more lasting impact, and Van Peebles had far more creative control. Through strong regulation, and enhanced intelligence capabilities, AUSTRAC collects and analyses financial reports and information to generate financial intelligence.I'm showing my own biases here by picking "Watermelon Man" as my favorite Melvin van Peebles movie. About AUSTRACĪUSTRAC (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre) is the Australian Government agency responsible for detecting, deterring and disrupting criminal abuse of the financial system to protect the community from serious and organised crime. In return for bringing the players to the casino, the casino pays the JTO a commission based on the collective gambling activity of players on the junket. In September 2018, the Australian Government announced the provision of $5.175 million to AUSTRAC to undertake an expanded three-year program of work to deliver risk assessments that focus on Australia's largest sectors: banking, gambling and remittance services.Ī junket is an arrangement between a casino and a junket tour operator (JTO) to facilitate a period of gambling by one, or a group, of players at a casino. The Junket Tour Operations in Australia: Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment can be found on the AUSTRAC website. Due to international border closures there has been a significant reduction in JTO activity in Australian casinos this year. This risk assessment is the latest in a series of money laundering and terrorism financing risk assessments developed to assist Australian industry to identify, understand and disrupt serious criminal activity targeting Australia’s financial system and community.ĪUSTRAC’s assessment of junket tour operations assessed financial data and intelligence for the period from April 2018 to March 2019, a period when junket tours were highly active. I urge casinos to take prompt action by assessing their levels of risk posed by junket operations, strengthening their controls and reporting suspicious activity to AUSTRAC,” Ms Rose said. “The information contained in this risk assessment shows that junkets are highly vulnerable to criminal misuse and Australian casinos must do more to mitigate ML/TF risks. “Money laundering and financial crime enables serious criminal activity such as drug trafficking and human trafficking which causes harm to our communities. It will also assist law enforcement and regulatory agencies.ĪUSTRAC CEO, Nicole Rose PSM said that AUSTRAC expects Australian casinos and associated sectors to use this assessment to protect their businesses and the Australian community from criminal threats. The information in this assessment will assist casinos to assess their level of risk, strengthen their controls and report suspicious activity to AUSTRAC. In producing the assessment, AUSTRAC engaged with casinos, banks and State and Commonwealth regulatory and law enforcement agencies, to collect information and insights about criminal threats, vulnerabilities and consequences related to junket operations. The assessment also found that patronage by high risk customers from foreign jurisdictions is a key vulnerability associated with junkets. The assessment concludes that the main criminal threat facing the JTOs sector is money laundering. AUSTRAC has today launched its money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) risk assessment of the junket tour operations (JTOs) sector.ĪUSTRAC assesses that the JTO sector faces multiple criminal threats and the overall ML/TF risk is high.
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