{"id":777022789,"date":"2025-02-11T10:36:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T13:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777022789"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:55:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:55:42","slug":"the-star-dealt-with-junkets-known-for-criminal-activity-inquiry-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-star-dealt-with-junkets-known-for-criminal-activity-inquiry-hears","title":{"rendered":"The Star dealt with junkets known for criminal activity, inquiry hears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ASIC’s case against former Star Entertainment executives and directors has started this week at the Federal Court in Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.-\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0Australian Securities and Investments Commission<\/strong> (ASIC) has initiated Federal Court civil penalty proceedings<\/a> against 10 current and former board members of\u00a0The Star Entertainment Group <\/strong>for alleged breaches of their duties under the Corporations Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first day of a six-week trial in the Federal Court in Sydney, ASIC\u2019s legal representative, Ruth Higgins SC<\/strong>, told justice Michael Lee <\/strong>that the leadership team at the casino operator failed to avoid business dealings with high-risk people. She claimed the company maintained relationships with overseas junket operators, in particular with Suncity, despite having evidence they were engaged in illicit activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higgins alleged that\u00a0in Suncity’s dedicated space at The Star Sydney, money was brought to the service desk in blue Esky bags, while junket staff hid from the view of CCTV cameras by covering themselves with blankets She said the board was “well aware” the company was engaging with junket operators and “knew junkets in Asia had links to organised crime”. She told the court documents existed warning executives of the risks of dealing with particular junket operators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inquiry will continue today (February 11). ASIC is taking legal action against members of the Star\u2019s board between 2017 and 2019: John O Neill\u00a0(former chair), Matthias Bekier (former CEO), Kathleen Lahey, Richard Sheppard, Gerard Bradley, Sally Pitkin, interim chair Benjamin Heap and Zlatko Todorcevski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>The Star rejects offers for Destination Brisbane stake<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ASIC’s case against former Star Entertainment executives and directors has started this week at the Federal Court in Sydney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has initiated Federal Court civil penalty proceedings against 10 current and former board members of The Star Entertainment Group. The allegations center on breaches of their duties under the Corporations Act, specifically regarding failures to avoid dealings with high-risk junket operators like Suncity, despite evidence of illicit activities. This six-week trial in Sydney highlights significant corporate governance and regulatory compliance failures within a major casino operator.","focusai_entities":"Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), The Star Entertainment Group, Suncity, John O Neill, Matthias Bekier, Kathleen Lahey, Richard Sheppard, Gerard Bradley, Sally Pitkin, Benjamin Heap, Zlatko Todorcevski, Ruth Higgins SC, Michael Lee","focusai_location":"Australia, Sydney","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Star's Licensing?","query":"What are the potential implications of these civil penalty proceedings for The Star Entertainment Group's existing casino licenses and future operational approvals in Australia?"},{"label":"Director Liability Precedent?","query":"How might the outcome of ASIC's case against Star's former executives and directors establish new precedents for personal liability and corporate governance expectations within the iGaming sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,439],"tags":[24616,23871],"class_list":["post-777022789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legal-news","tag-australian-securities-and-investments-commission","tag-the-star-entertainment-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777022789"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777022803,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022789\/revisions\/777022803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777022789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777022789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777022789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}