AN Australian federal court on Wednesday fined casino operator Star Entertainment AU$260 million ($182.73 million) for breaching anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws, according to a court judgment.
The penalty stems from a civil lawsuit brought in 2022 by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (Austrac), which alleged Star entities failed to comply with anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing regulations.The fine is lower than the roughly AU$400-million penalty sought by the financial crime watchdog, according to media reports last year.The court found that Star Sydney’s anti-money laundering program failed to meet legal requirements and breached the law on multiple occasions each time it began providing designated services to customers between Nov. 30, 2016, and Nov. 30, 2022, among other violations.The casino operator reported earlier this week that it had AU$239 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of last month and AU$80 million in restricted deposits.Star shares were placed on a trading halt earlier on Wednesday ahead of the court’s decision in the Austrac case.
