Star continued to work with Suncity despite concerns, inquiry hears
Skye Arnott, Star’s chief financial crime officer, has admitted the company continued to work closely with Suncity despite a 2019 report on illicit activities.
Australia.- On a new day of public hearings into the Star Entertainment Group in New South Wales, the ILGA inquiry has heard Skye Arnott, Star’s chief financial crime officer, speak about Star Entertainment’s close dealings with Suncity Group.
Arnott told the inquiry that the company continued to work closely with Suncity despite a 2019 report on illegal activities. The report, originally released by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, claimed that Suncity laundered US$2m in cash every day between 2013 and 2015.
Arnott claimed her decision to continue relations with SunCity was based on her concerns about the Jockey Club report. But it wasn’t until 2020 that Star first turned its attention to an arrangement at Salon 95.
A week ago, the inquiry hear that in Salon 95, junkets handed out non-transferable chips to players, and if they won, exchanged those chips for premium chips and then back to non-transferable chips. Each broker received a set of non-transferable chips, offered in Australian or Hong Kong dollars. The room was not mentioned in The Star’s planning submissions.
Arnott admitted that Star Entertainment did not take prompt action against apparent fraud. She was also questioned over CCTV footage from 2018 that showed Suncity staff putting piles of cash in a brown paper bag at the venue.
The Star Sydney’s Suncity operations ceased in November 2021, following the arrest of Suncity’s founder, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, over cross-border gambling and money laundering accusations.
The Star Entertainment faces class action from shareholders
Investors in the Star Entertainment Group have filed a class action lawsuit amid the heavy public scrutiny of the group’s Sydney casino operations. Investors are seeking compensation for alleged misleading or deceptive representations made by Star regarding its compliance with regulatory obligations.
The lawsuit alleges that Star led investors to believe the group was a model casino operator when in fact it failed to curb corruption, money laundering and bribery. Star’s stock price fell by more than 25 per cent after media reports of money laundering and other misconduct in 2021, wiping more than $1bn off the company’s market value.
Lead plaintiff David Lynch said: “As an investor, I expect that licensed operators that are publicly listed will operate following the law and that there are appropriate checks and balances to ensure they do so. I am dismayed by the apparent scale of Star’s misconduct that is now being revealed in the public hearings.”
Senior associate Ben Zocco told ABC: “When investors purchase shares in a listed company, they are entitled to assume that all of the material information relevant to its financial position had been disclosed to the market.”
