The Federal Court of Australia has imposed a six-year ban on managing companies in Australia and a A$700,000 fine (about US$492,000) on former Star Entertainment CEO and Managing Director Matt Bekier. The orders were made on Wednesday, 17 June, according to Casino.org.
The court also barred former Star Chief Legal & Risk Officer Paula Martin from corporate leadership for seven years and fined her A$400,000.
What the court found
Both penalties followed a finding in March that Bekier and Martin failed in their duties as senior officers. The failures related to Star's dealings with junkets, particularly its largest junket customer, Suncity. In the court's reasons for judgment, quoted in the source, the failures were described as senior officers of a publicly listed casino operator failing "to respond appropriately to information bearing upon various legal, regulatory, and reputational risks".
According to the report, the court had the benefit of earlier state inquiries in Queensland and New South Wales. It ruled that the executives failed to act properly on warning signs and to manage serious money-laundering risks. It also found that Star promoted its gaming facilities to known bad actors and criminal organisations by aligning with Suncity, once the largest VIP junket group in Macau, to bring high rollers to Australia.
The court found Bekier and Martin were repeatedly asked about the Suncity relationship but did not properly probe the partnership or investigate claims about Suncity's improper business model. Justice Michael Lee said the pair had not shown a sufficient understanding of the seriousness of their breaches.
"It is one thing to regret the consequences of having been investigated and sued; it is another to demonstrate an appreciation of why the conduct found by the Court involved serious failures in the discharge of duties owed by senior officers of a casino operator," Justice Michael Lee said.
The source also reports that Suncity and Star were accused of violating Chinese law by actively promoting casino gambling on the mainland. Suncity founder Alvin Chau was sentenced in January 2023 to 18 years in a Chinese prison for running an illegal gambling network.
Star's wider regulatory record
Star is described as Australia's second-largest gaming operator behind Crown Resorts. It operates The Star Brisbane, The Star Gold Coast and The Star Sydney, and has been controlled by Bally's Corporation since its 2025 rescue.
The report says the NSW and Queensland governments fined Star A$200 million in 2022 for anti-money laundering failures. This month, NSW fined the company a further A$10 million for four disciplinary and regulatory breaches. A$5 million of that related to what the report calls "systemic failures" in Star Sydney's financial crimes risk operations.
Bally's acquired a 56.7% stake in Star last year for A$300 million. According to the report, Australian regulators say the operator has largely cleaned up its act. NSW Independent Casino Commission Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford was quoted as saying: "We have seen considerable progress at The Star under its new leadership." He added that the commission is confident the revised remediation workstreams, Bally's expertise and technology upgrades have made a materially significant improvement in Star's remediation progress.
What is not disclosed
The source does not say whether Bekier or Martin intends to appeal, nor does it include any response from either of them. It also does not give further detail on how the penalties were calculated. Readers should treat the regulator's positive assessment of Star's progress as the commission's view, not an independent verification.