The Federal Court has found that two former senior executives of The Star Entertainment Group Ltd (Star) breached their duties in relation to their handling of the risks associated with money laundering and criminal activity at one of Australia's major casinos.
The Court found that Star's former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Matthias Bekier, and former Chief Legal & Risk Officer, Paula Martin, contravened the law by breaching their duties owed to Star under section 180 of the Corporations Act 2001.
The Court dismissed ASIC's case against the seven former non-executive directors after finding they did not breach their duties.
Today's judgment comes 12 months after Star's former Chief Financial Officer, Harry Theodore, and its former Chief Casino Officer, Gregory Hawkins, admitted breaches of their duties as officers of Star before the trial.
At that time, the Court imposed financial penalties against Mr Theodore and Mr Hawkins and disqualified them from managing a public company for 18 months and nine months respectively (25-018MR).
In relation to today's judgment, Mr Bekier was found to have breached his duties arising from his:
- failure to properly deal with a KPMG report that identified deficiencies in Star's processes for managing AML/CTF risk
- failure to properly manage the risks arising from the gambling junket Suncity's operations in Salon 95, an exclusive gaming room provided to Suncity by Star; even after becoming aware of media allegations concerning Crown and Suncity, and
- failure to properly manage and escalate to the board issues concerning the impermissible use of China Union Pay (CUP) cards by Star's casino customers.
Mr Bekier was found not to have breached his duties arising from his approval of expanding Star's credit exposure to two of its gambling junket customers, including Suncity, and the management of Star's business association with Mr Sixin Qin.
Ms Martin was found to have breached her duties in relation to each of the three pleaded contraventions arising from her:
- role in failing to properly inform and advise the Board about the risks arising from Star's dealings with Suncity, and
- involvement in misleading Star's banker National Australia Bank in relation to the use of CUP cards by Star customers, and in failing to inform the board of these issues.
The matter will be listed for a further hearing and ASIC will ask the Court to impose a financial penalty on Mr Bekier and Ms Martin and to disqualify them from managing corporations for a period of time.
ASIC Chair Joe Longo said:
'ASIC pursued this case because of the fundamental questions it raised about trust, governance and accountability at one of Australia's largest casino operators.
'The Court found that senior executives have a critical responsibility to identify serious risks, ensure those risks are properly managed, and escalate them to the board.
'We acknowledge that the Federal Court found the non-executive directors did not breach their duties in this case.
'ASIC will always require directors and executives to meet the highest standards of corporate governance because of the crucial role they play in maintaining trust.
'Given the length of the judgment, ASIC will carefully consider its implications as these proceedings move to the penalty phase.'
Background
ASIC's case alleged, amongst other things, that:
- Mr Bekier and Ms Martin did not adequately address the money laundering risks that arose from Star's dealing with Asian gambling junket Suncity and its funder, as well as continuing to deal with them despite becoming aware of reports of criminal links.
- Suncity was Star's largest junket, with Star's turnover from Suncity being approximately $2.1 billion, $4 billion and $5.9 billion for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 financial years respectively.
- Mr Bekier and Ms Martin did not appropriately escalate money laundering issues to the Board.
- Ms Martin permitted misleading statements being provided by Star to NAB regarding the use of debit cards issued by China Union Pay International Ltd (CUP) at NAB ATMs located on Star's premises. Those statements disguised the fact that Star was permitting CUP cards to be used for gambling, which was prohibited by CUP.
- Mr Bekier and Ms Martin failed to report the issue of misleading statements being provided to NAB to the Board.
- ASIC is aware over $900 million was obtained by Star customers using CUP cards in NAB ATMs from 2013 to 2019.
Earlier in these proceedings, former senior executives Gregory Hawkins and Harry Theodore admitted to breaches and were penalised by the Court in 2025 (25-018MR).
During its investigation, ASIC engaged with AUSTRAC and the gaming regulators in NSW and Queensland.
