'High risk': The Star's $167m credit to money launderer
The Star was willing to offer millions in gambling credit to a known money launderer and wrote falsified letters to enable overseas bank transfers from unknown individuals.
These details and many more have been exposed as financial watchdog AUSTRAC pursues the embattled casino giant in the Federal Court.
The Star made "innumerable contraventions" of Australian anti-money laundering laws through its conduct, including a willingness to do business with 117 high-risk customers, barrister Daniel Tynan told a Federal Court hearing on Thursday.
The casino has admitted that 70 of these customers - who were junket funders, operators or players - each posed a high money laundering risk.
"They would have the opportunity to gamble that money, get the returns, wash it, do it again," Mr Tynan told Justice Cameron Moore.
One of these customers, Suncity junket operator Alvin Chau, was provided with credit of up to $266.67 million.
Chau funded at least 3690 junket programs at The Star's Sydney casino, bringing in a turnover of about $12.6 billion.
Despite media reports linking him to overseas crime syndicates, The Star continued to engage with the Suncity head, Mr Tynan said.
It was only after Chau was arrested by Macau police and hit with a number of charges - including money laundering - that the casino stopped dealing with him, the court has heard.
Another customer was given almost $167 million in credit despite The Star knowing from at least 2014 that he had been involved in alleged money laundering, Mr Tynan said.
The casino also facilitated high-risk transactions from 1221 customers who transferred money in and out through channels that obscured their identity, the court was told.
Staff at EEIS, a Macau-based subsidiary of The Star, wrote up falsified letters for local customers wanting to send funds through the Bank of China directly to the casino, Mr Tynan continued.
These letters contained false claims about the source of the funds being deposited, the barrister said.
Almost $990 million in deposits were made through The Star's hotel debit cards, allowing gamblers to transfer money directly to the casino without going through an Australian bank.
The cards also allowed gamblers in countries like China with restrictions on gambling to disguise their transactions by claiming they were for other purposes like hotel accommodation, Justice Moore was told.
The Star advanced money to customers who complained about the 24 to 48-hour waiting period before funds hit their accounts.
Individuals could also withdraw cash directly, Mr Tynan said.
"This is coming in anonymously, taken out in cash - it can be used for anything."
AUSTRAC is seeking $400 million in penalties over the breaches while the casino has argued it can only pay $100 million without being pushed into administration.
In April, the failing casino business received a $300 million rescue package from US gaming giant Bally's Corporation.
The hearing continues on Friday.
The Star was willing to offer millions in gambling credit to a known money launderer and wrote falsified letters to enable overseas bank transfers from unknown individuals.
These details and many more have been exposed as financial watchdog AUSTRAC pursues the embattled casino giant in the Federal Court.
The Star made "innumerable contraventions" of Australian anti-money laundering laws through its conduct, including a willingness to do business with 117 high-risk customers, barrister Daniel Tynan told a Federal Court hearing on Thursday.
The casino has admitted that 70 of these customers - who were junket funders, operators or players - each posed a high money laundering risk.
"They would have the opportunity to gamble that money, get the returns, wash it, do it again," Mr Tynan told Justice Cameron Moore.
One of these customers, Suncity junket operator Alvin Chau, was provided with credit of up to $266.67 million.
Chau funded at least 3690 junket programs at The Star's Sydney casino, bringing in a turnover of about $12.6 billion.
Despite media reports linking him to overseas crime syndicates, The Star continued to engage with the Suncity head, Mr Tynan said.
It was only after Chau was arrested by Macau police and hit with a number of charges - including money laundering - that the casino stopped dealing with him, the court has heard.
Another customer was given almost $167 million in credit despite The Star knowing from at least 2014 that he had been involved in alleged money laundering, Mr Tynan said.
The casino also facilitated high-risk transactions from 1221 customers who transferred money in and out through channels that obscured their identity, the court was told.
Staff at EEIS, a Macau-based subsidiary of The Star, wrote up falsified letters for local customers wanting to send funds through the Bank of China directly to the casino, Mr Tynan continued.
These letters contained false claims about the source of the funds being deposited, the barrister said.
Almost $990 million in deposits were made through The Star's hotel debit cards, allowing gamblers to transfer money directly to the casino without going through an Australian bank.
The cards also allowed gamblers in countries like China with restrictions on gambling to disguise their transactions by claiming they were for other purposes like hotel accommodation, Justice Moore was told.
The Star advanced money to customers who complained about the 24 to 48-hour waiting period before funds hit their accounts.
Individuals could also withdraw cash directly, Mr Tynan said.
"This is coming in anonymously, taken out in cash - it can be used for anything."
AUSTRAC is seeking $400 million in penalties over the breaches while the casino has argued it can only pay $100 million without being pushed into administration.
In April, the failing casino business received a $300 million rescue package from US gaming giant Bally's Corporation.
The hearing continues on Friday.
The Star was willing to offer millions in gambling credit to a known money launderer and wrote falsified letters to enable overseas bank transfers from unknown individuals.
These details and many more have been exposed as financial watchdog AUSTRAC pursues the embattled casino giant in the Federal Court.
The Star made "innumerable contraventions" of Australian anti-money laundering laws through its conduct, including a willingness to do business with 117 high-risk customers, barrister Daniel Tynan told a Federal Court hearing on Thursday.
The casino has admitted that 70 of these customers - who were junket funders, operators or players - each posed a high money laundering risk.
"They would have the opportunity to gamble that money, get the returns, wash it, do it again," Mr Tynan told Justice Cameron Moore.
One of these customers, Suncity junket operator Alvin Chau, was provided with credit of up to $266.67 million.
Chau funded at least 3690 junket programs at The Star's Sydney casino, bringing in a turnover of about $12.6 billion.
Despite media reports linking him to overseas crime syndicates, The Star continued to engage with the Suncity head, Mr Tynan said.
It was only after Chau was arrested by Macau police and hit with a number of charges - including money laundering - that the casino stopped dealing with him, the court has heard.
Another customer was given almost $167 million in credit despite The Star knowing from at least 2014 that he had been involved in alleged money laundering, Mr Tynan said.
The casino also facilitated high-risk transactions from 1221 customers who transferred money in and out through channels that obscured their identity, the court was told.
Staff at EEIS, a Macau-based subsidiary of The Star, wrote up falsified letters for local customers wanting to send funds through the Bank of China directly to the casino, Mr Tynan continued.
These letters contained false claims about the source of the funds being deposited, the barrister said.
Almost $990 million in deposits were made through The Star's hotel debit cards, allowing gamblers to transfer money directly to the casino without going through an Australian bank.
The cards also allowed gamblers in countries like China with restrictions on gambling to disguise their transactions by claiming they were for other purposes like hotel accommodation, Justice Moore was told.
The Star advanced money to customers who complained about the 24 to 48-hour waiting period before funds hit their accounts.
Individuals could also withdraw cash directly, Mr Tynan said.
"This is coming in anonymously, taken out in cash - it can be used for anything."
AUSTRAC is seeking $400 million in penalties over the breaches while the casino has argued it can only pay $100 million without being pushed into administration.
In April, the failing casino business received a $300 million rescue package from US gaming giant Bally's Corporation.
The hearing continues on Friday.
The Star was willing to offer millions in gambling credit to a known money launderer and wrote falsified letters to enable overseas bank transfers from unknown individuals.
These details and many more have been exposed as financial watchdog AUSTRAC pursues the embattled casino giant in the Federal Court.
The Star made "innumerable contraventions" of Australian anti-money laundering laws through its conduct, including a willingness to do business with 117 high-risk customers, barrister Daniel Tynan told a Federal Court hearing on Thursday.
The casino has admitted that 70 of these customers - who were junket funders, operators or players - each posed a high money laundering risk.
"They would have the opportunity to gamble that money, get the returns, wash it, do it again," Mr Tynan told Justice Cameron Moore.
One of these customers, Suncity junket operator Alvin Chau, was provided with credit of up to $266.67 million.
Chau funded at least 3690 junket programs at The Star's Sydney casino, bringing in a turnover of about $12.6 billion.
Despite media reports linking him to overseas crime syndicates, The Star continued to engage with the Suncity head, Mr Tynan said.
It was only after Chau was arrested by Macau police and hit with a number of charges - including money laundering - that the casino stopped dealing with him, the court has heard.
Another customer was given almost $167 million in credit despite The Star knowing from at least 2014 that he had been involved in alleged money laundering, Mr Tynan said.
The casino also facilitated high-risk transactions from 1221 customers who transferred money in and out through channels that obscured their identity, the court was told.
Staff at EEIS, a Macau-based subsidiary of The Star, wrote up falsified letters for local customers wanting to send funds through the Bank of China directly to the casino, Mr Tynan continued.
These letters contained false claims about the source of the funds being deposited, the barrister said.
Almost $990 million in deposits were made through The Star's hotel debit cards, allowing gamblers to transfer money directly to the casino without going through an Australian bank.
The cards also allowed gamblers in countries like China with restrictions on gambling to disguise their transactions by claiming they were for other purposes like hotel accommodation, Justice Moore was told.
The Star advanced money to customers who complained about the 24 to 48-hour waiting period before funds hit their accounts.
Individuals could also withdraw cash directly, Mr Tynan said.
"This is coming in anonymously, taken out in cash - it can be used for anything."
AUSTRAC is seeking $400 million in penalties over the breaches while the casino has argued it can only pay $100 million without being pushed into administration.
In April, the failing casino business received a $300 million rescue package from US gaming giant Bally's Corporation.
The hearing continues on Friday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
42 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Inter line up former player Chivu to replace Inzaghi
Beaten Champions League finalists Inter Milan will appoint their former player and youth coach Cristian Chivu as manager to replace the recently departed Simone Inzaghi. Inter president Giuseppe Marotta said on Friday that the deal would be announced once details have been worked out with Parma, Chivu's current club. Inzaghi left Inter on Tuesday, four years to the day since his appointment and three days after his side suffered a 5-0 defeat by Paris St-Germain in the Champions League final to end the season trophyless. He was named coach of Al-Hilal a day later. Italian media reports had already named Chivu as the new manager with the 44-year-old Romanian set to sign a two-year contract, and Marotta, speaking at the Serie A Festival, all but confirmed the news. "To win, money alone is not enough, expertise, planning, experience, and many other qualities are needed," Marotta said. "All these qualities are what we believe to have, for example in the case of Chivu. I'm saying this because I cannot give official confirmation as there is a bureaucratic aspect we need to overcome with Parma." Meanwhile Gian Piero Gasperini has been named as Roma's new coach, taking over for the retiring Claudio Ranieri following his successful run at Atalanta. "I need a significant challenge," Gasperini said in an interview released by Roma. He has signed a three-year deal for the club owned by Texas-based businessman Dan Friedkin. In nine seasons at Atalanta, Gasperini guided the Bergamo club to a Europa League triumph in 2024, six top-four finishes in Serie A, and a Champions League quarter-final. Atalanta have turned to Croatian Ivan Juric, who left Southampton following their relegation from the EPL, as Gasperini's replacement.
Sky News AU
7 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Australia should not ‘relinquish' biosecurity standards for US
Nationals Leader David Littleproud claims Australia does not 'fear competition' amid the trade talks on beef with US President Donald Trump. 'We don't fear the fact of us competing with the US beef that's already coming into Australian markets,' Mr Littleproud told Sky News Australia. 'What we do fear is a drop in biosecurity standards that would pose a biosecurity risk that could damage our herd, cost Australian farmers billions. 'We have the best biosecurity in the world … we shouldn't relinquish that to anybody.'
The Advertiser
7 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Japanese company's moon lander 'likely to have crashed'
Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position.
