Ex-Star boss fined $700k for ignoring criminal risks
The Star’s former chief was fined $700,000 for ignoring crime risks from overseas gamblers after a judge reduced the requested sentence due to an earlier lenient plea deal.
Former Star CEO Matthias Bekier The Federal Court ruled in March that Chinese Junket operator Suncity failed to report suspicious behavior in 2018 and 2019 to the company’s board of directors.
Mr Bekier and former Star general counsel Paula Martin were successfully sued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for breach of duty.
On Wednesday, Judge Michael Lee sentenced Mr Bekier, finding that the casino magnate headed an organization that was allowed to operate despite its inherent risks as long as it remained vigilant.
“When it was Star’s turn, this attention was found to be lacking,” the judge said.
He added that the casino’s corporate governance failures occurred because supervisors “failed to sound the trumpet” when they saw “the sword coming.”
The judge also fined Ms. Martin $400,000.
Mr Bekier was banned from running a company for six years, while Ms Martin was banned for seven years.
ASIC’s lawyers had initially sought a fine of $1.3 million for Mr Bekier and $1.1 million for Ms Martin at a hearing in May.
However, the corporate watchdog had previously agreed to impose much lower fines of $180,000 for former casino chief Greg Hawkins and $60,000 for former chief financial officer Harry Theodore for similar misconduct.
Mr Hawkins and Mr Theodore were banned for 18 months and nine months respectively.
Judge Lee said this “light touch” and the overly generous settlement ultimately reduced the sentences he imposed on the former casino mogul and his lead lawyer.
Judge Lee in March I found Mr. Bekier and Mrs. Martin Star’s board of directors was not informed about the risks posed by Suncity in 2018 and 2019.
This behavior involved bundles of cash being delivered to the service desk in blue cooler bags or cardboard boxes and security guards hiding under blankets to stay out of view of CCTV cameras.
Both were aware of a misleading email sent to lender National Australia Bank in 2020 about concerns gamblers were using Chinese UnionPay cards for gambling banned by the foreign card scheme.
Junkets and its international VIP players were hugely lucrative for Star, generating tens of billions of dollars for the business each year.
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