Star Entertainment has been hit with a massive $260 million fine for multiple breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws.
The penalty is less than the $400 million that AUSTRAC had asked the Federal Court to impose.
However, Star had previously warned that any fine above $100 million could tip it into insolvency.
The company will be allowed to pay the penalty in instalments over 19 months, with the court acknowledging the potential threat to Star’s ongoing viability.
“Star’s profitability is such that it is likely to need to raise money to pay any penalty. Its ability to pay the penalty should not be jeopardised by requiring it to be paid all at once as AUSTRAC proposes,” Justice Cameron Moore said.
Justice Moore slammed the actions of Star, saying it put profit over compliance on a large scale.
“Without being in any way exhaustive, particularly serious examples of this may be found in Star’s treatment of certain high-risk customers and excluded customers who continued to be welcomed at Star Casinos and indeed actively encouraged to attend.
“The conduct identified above involved very large sums of money. Indeed, for example, the revenue from junkets alone was over $1.4 billion in the relevant period and the profit from junkets in the pre-COVID years exceeded $100 million.”
Today’s penalty comes on top of the more than $200 million in fines dished out by the New South Wales and Queensland governments.
Star Entertainment is yet to comment on the judgment.
Shares in the company had been placed in a trading halt ahead of the decision.
More to come.
