Heads continue to roll at Australian casino company Star Entertainment Group. Last week, three more executives—Chief Financial Officer Harry Theodore, Chief Casino Officer Greg Hawkins, and Chief Legal and Risk Officer Paula Martin—have followed CEO Matt Bekier out the door as New South Wales officials consider the company’s suitability to hold a casino license in the state.
Star announced the resignations in a May 6 filing to the Australian Stock Exchange.
The NSW inquiry, which began March 17, has looked at the gross misuse of China Union Pay (CUP) cards at Star Sydney, which allowed high rollers to disguise gaming transactions as hotel expenses, as well as Star’s lack of oversight of junket operator SunCity Group, reported Asia Gaming Brief. On March 28, Bekier announced his resignation while putting some of the blame on his VIP team.
“When it came to the VIP-related matters … I had a failure of the first and the second line of defense,” Bekier said. “I feel let down by people in the risk team and people in the VIP team.”
On the witness stand recently, Theodore gave evidence that he acted unethically when overseeing correspondence that disguised the transactions. He described it as a failure of leadership, according to local reports. At the time, Theodore also denied reports that he would leave the company.
According to Asia Gaming Brief, Hawkins admitted that the Sydney casino engaged in “sharp” business practices that skirted gaming regulations in the state. But Martin, for her part, denied that Star’s VIP rebate business was “out of control” and the door had been left “wide open” for organized crime.
On May 9, Star announced the appointment of Chief Gaming Officer Christina Katsibouba as interim CFO, and Group Executive Operations head Geoff Hogg as interim chief casino officer for NSW and Queensland.
According to the Australian Financial Review, Star will suspend all domestic and international rebate play programs in the wake of issues raised during the review, being conducted by Adam Bell SC.
“The Star will work with gaming regulators to address various identified risks as part of ongoing reviews of systems and processes,” the company said. The Star has also engaged external advisors and continues a significant program of work to further improve those systems and processes while cooperating fully with the review.”
ABC News reported that a “key figure” in Star Casino’s international VIP team is accused of misappropriating more than $13 million in gambling money before “disappearing” in 2020. The senior manager, who worked with Chinese high rollers, allegedly transferred a $13.3 million payment from a junket operator into his own account, not the Star’s.
Another prominent figure, Marcus Lim, was accused of accepting kickbacks and associating with “illegal, undesirable elements.” Lim is the former president of international VIP sales for Star. An investigation into his actions began in 2019 but had not concluded by the time he left in 2020. Despite the serious allegations, Lim was permitted to remain on “gardening leave” with full pay for six months.
Special counsel Naomi Sharp grilled Bekier about these incidents, asking, “Was this a case of simply shuffling off Marcus Lim quietly so as to avoid making any disclosures of seriously inappropriate conduct of a senior manager at Star Entertainment group?”
“Not at all, Ms. Sharp,” Bekier replied.
Sharp pressed on, saying, “Just at the point in the business where the flow of money was at its highest, and where the [anti-money laundering] risks were the greatest, and where the integrity risks to the casino were the greatest, senior management completely dropped the ball … Didn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t agree with the characterization that we completely dropped the ball,” Bekier said. “But there were clearly shortcomings.”
