The Federal Court has penalised two former executives of The Star Entertainment Group Ltd (Star) after they admitted to breaches of their duties in proceedings brought by ASIC against them and nine other former Star officers and directors.

Star’s former Chief Casino Officer, Gregory Hawkins, was ordered to pay a penalty of $180,000 and disqualified from managing corporations for 18 months, while former Chief Financial Officer, Harry Theodore, was ordered to pay a $60,000 penalty and was disqualified from managing corporations for nine months.

Following a hearing on 24 February 2025, the Court found, based on facts agreed between the parties, that Mr Hawkins, whose role included overseeing the operations of Star’s Sydney casino, breached his duties under s 180(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 in 2018 and 2019 by:

• approving an agreement between Star and the gambling junket Suncity in 2018 which provided Suncity exclusive access to a private gaming room in the Sydney casino known as ‘Salon 95’ when he knew that the conduct of Suncity’s representatives exposed Star to the risk that it would breach the law or become unsuitable to hold a casino license, and for failing to report the information he knew about Suncity to the Board, 
• failing to inform the Board in 2019 of further information he knew, including of the conduct of players in Salon 95 and the information about Suncity and its associates published in the media, and the risks Star was exposed to arising from its business relationship with Suncity, and 
• failing to recommend to the Board that Star review or terminate its relationship with Suncity and its associates.

Mr Theodore was found to have breached s 180 (1) of the Corporations Act by failing to prevent Star from sending correspondence to National Australia Bank on 7 November 2019 which contained inaccurate, incomplete and misleading representations about the use of China Union Pay cards for gambling purposes at NAB terminals located within Star’s casino.

Current status of proceedings

The trial of ASIC’s proceedings continues in relation to the remaining nine former Star directors and officers. ASIC has closed its case against the defendants and the trial has been adjourned to 5 March 2025.

Background

On 12 December 2022, ASIC commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against 11 current and former directors and officers of Star for alleged breaches of their duties under s 180 of the Corporations Act. That case is continuing in the Federal Court (22-351MR).