ASIC Bans Star Executives After Casino Risk Failures
The Australian Federal Court disqualified two former Star Entertainment Group executives from managing corporations after it found they breached their duties over serious casino risk failures.
According to ASIC, former CEO and Managing Director Mathias Bekier must pay a $700,000 penalty and cannot manage corporations for six years. Former General Counsel, Company Secretary, and Chief Legal and Risk Officer Paula Martin must pay $400,000 and faces a seven-year ban.
Bekier and Martin must also pay 45% of ASIC’s costs in the proceeding. The penalties follow earlier findings that both executives breached duties owed to Star Entertainment in their handling of risks tied to money laundering and criminal activity.
Regulator and Court Statements
ASIC Chair Sarah Court said senior executives carry a “critical responsibility to identify, escalate and properly manage serious risks within their organisations.”
“These failures occurred in a highly regulated environment and contributed to governance breakdowns at Star,” Court said.
In addition, the case centred on how senior executives handled risks tied to money laundering, criminal activity and an overseas gambling junket at one of Australia’s major casino operators.
Justice Lee said senior executives of casino operators must understand that failures of this kind can carry “substantial personal consequences.”
Martin’s Role under Scrutiny
By contrast with the broader findings, the judgment singled out Martin’s position as Star’s most senior lawyer. Justice Lee said the community was entitled to expect “professional independence, accuracy and judgment of a high order” from a solicitor who held legal and risk responsibilities at one of Australia’s largest casino operators.
According to the judgment cited by ASIC, Martin knew of alarming information linked to an overseas gambling junket and failed to report those matters to the board. Justice Lee said the more pervasive the governance and culture failures become, the greater the obligation on legal and risk leaders to insist on compliance with legal duties and proper corporate conduct.
ASIC confirmed governance and directors’ duties failures remain an enforcement priority. The case gives Australian casino boards a clear marker: AML and criminal-risk failures can move beyond corporate penalties into personal sanctions for senior executives.
💡TGJ Take
This ruling puts personal accountability at the centre of casino compliance. For operators, the lesson is not only to identify AML and junket risk, but to prove that warnings reached the board and triggered action. Legal and risk teams should treat escalation records, board packs and risk minutes as career-level controls. The Court’s language also raises the bar for senior in-house lawyers in gambling groups: independence is not optional when the business model carries known crime and AML exposure.
