On March 5, 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”) announced that a judge in the Federal Court of Australia ruled that two former executives for Star Entertainment Group Limited, one of Australia’s largest casino companies, breached the Corporations Act 2001 by failing to adequately address apparent acts of money laundering in its dealings with Suncity, a junket customer that organized luxury trips for Star’s VIP gamers. While a total of eleven former employees were accused of misconduct, the court found that two former executives – CEO Matthias Bekier and Star’s most senior in-house solicitor Paula Martin – breached section 180 of the Corporations Act for their dealings with junkets. Before the trial began, Star’s former CFO and its former Chief Casino Officer admitted to breaching their duties as officers, according to the ASIC. The court also ruled that the remaining seven defendants, described as non-executives, did not breach their duties to Star. As a result, the court dismissed the ASIC’s case against them.
According to the judgment, Bekier and Martin failed to reasonably discharge the duties of an officer or director by choosing not to terminate or suspend Star’s relationship with Suncity after learning that the company had engaged in “money laundering and other potential criminal activity” in its casino in Sydney. The court also found that information concerning apparent money laundering activity was “buried” in reports prepared for the Board, including one report that contained only a one-line reference to a junket funder’s detention in China for his alleged involvement in money laundering. The court also determined that the Bekier and Martin, who were aware that customers were misusing their China Union Pay (“CUP”) cards for gambling instead of for hotel expenses, were complicit in falsely representing to the National Australia Bank Ltd (“NAB”), one of Star’s major lenders, that the cards were only used for non-gambling purposes.
The ASIC announced the court’s ruling against Bekier and Martin, reporting that the court found that Bekier breached his duty to Star by failing to properly deal with a Board report that identified money laundering deficiencies; failing to properly manage Star’s money laundering risk after becoming aware of media reports concerning misconduct; and failing to sufficiently manage and escalate issues to the Board regarding the impermissible use of CUP cards by Star’s customers. The court ruled that Martin breached her duty to Star by failing to properly inform and advise the Board of risks arising from Star’s continued dealings with Suncity and for misleading the NAB and the Board regarding the misuse of CUP cards.