The Financial Intelligence Unit of Australia (AUSTRAC) is initiating legal proceedings against Star Casino. AUSTRAC asserts that Star consistently and significantly violated Australian regulations intended to combat financial crimes and the funding of terrorism.
This legal action comes after an extensive inquiry by AUSTRAC, commencing in 2019, which initially examined the broader casino sector and subsequently focused on Star in 2021. This probe involved close collaboration with other supervisory bodies, including state gaming regulators and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
AUSTRAC contends that Star neglected to appropriately evaluate the dangers of money laundering and terrorism financing, lacked sufficient supervision of their anti-money laundering program by their executive board and upper management, and failed to adequately track high-risk patrons.
Lawbreakers are perpetually devising novel methods to manipulate the financial system, leveraging it to cleanse their illicit funds and inflict damage upon society,” proclaimed Nicole Rose, the director of AUSTRAC, Australia’s financial intelligence unit. “Corporations, serving as the initial safeguard for our financial infrastructure and indeed for society as a whole, are frequently the first to detect the warning signs of unlawful actions.”
“Our inquiry revealed a multitude of shortcomings at Star – subpar oversight, insufficient risk mitigation, and a failure to construct and uphold a genuinely compliant structure to combat money laundering and the funding of terrorism.”
“Moreover,” Rose added, “Star Entities neglected to adequately examine their clientele, overlooking the continuous due diligence that could have averted years of widespread wrongdoing.”
AUSTRAC emphasized that the decision regarding the issuance of a civil penalty order, and the establishment of any potential financial sanction, ultimately lies with the judicial system.
