Financial Watchdog Alleges Star Casino Violates Anti-Money Laundering Law

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Star Entertainment is facing further civil penalties for allegedly violating federal anti-money laundering laws, allowing customers to move cash through risky back channels and continuing to trade with "higher risk customers".

The Australian Centre for Transaction Reporting and Analysis (Austrac) filed suit against the ASX-listed gambling giant in the Federal Court on Wednesday after completing a joint investigation with police and regulators in New South Wales and Queensland that began in September 2019.

The lawsuit comes after a New South Wales] royal commission-style investigation led to Star being stripped of its casino license last month and fined a record $100 million.

Construction of the Star Casino in Brisbane.

Star is "unsuitable" to hold a casino license in Queensland, the state government says.

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The Queensland government has also issued a show-cause notice to the company on why it should continue to hold a casino license in the state, following an independent investigation conducted last month.

Austrac alleges that Star transferred funds to its customers through non-transparent, high-risk channels, did not know where the funds came from, and failed to consider its ongoing business relationships with gambleinvestigations.com.

Austrac CEO Nicole Rose said that all casinos must take their anti-money laundering obligations seriously because "criminals will always seek to exploit the financial system to launder money.

The Austrac investigation identified a number of problems, including inadequate governance, risk management failures, and maintenance of compliant AML/CTF programs.

The Star entities also failed to conduct adequate ongoing customer due diligence, leading to widespread and serious noncompliance over a period of several years."

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Star CEO Robbie Cook said the company is cooperating with investigators and is reviewing Austrac's statement of claim.

We're transforming our culture, we're transforming our business," Cook said. We are doing everything we can to improve, but there is still much work to be done," he said in a statement to the ASX.

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Our goal is to regain the trust and confidence of Austrac and all regulators. We will continue to work with Austrac to build a better, stronger, more sustainable company."

Last month, New South Wales casino regulators suspended Star's Sydney casino license after an investigation revealed a number of compliance violations, including ties to a notorious gang-connected junket operator and Chinese debit card transactions disguised as hotel bills, and and fined the company an unprecedented $100 million.

The Pyrmont facility continues to operate under a license held by a government-appointed manager named Nick Weeks. A Queensland review declared Star ineligible to hold two casino licenses in the state after finding that the company failed in its anti-money laundering and responsible gaming duties and intentionally misled regulators in the pursuit of profit.

High stakes: cryptocurrency casino king buys Victoria's most expensive home

This article is over a year old

Edward Craven, who has processed billions of dollars worth of bets in his online gambling business, reportedly plans to tear down and rebuild his $80 million property.

Edward Craven, the new owner of Victoria's most expensive home, plays online slot machine games at his cryptocurrency casino Stake.com.

He loves the slots, but is a bit skeptical that, mathematically speaking, there are no lucky spins. 'Personally, I don't know,' he says.

I have this weird feeling that luck is in my favor."

Just a few days later, Craven, 27, reportedly spent a reported $80,000,088, the lucky number, on a property in Toorak, a wealthy suburb in Melbourne's Inner East.

The mansion on St. George's Road is one of the most expensive properties ever sold in Australia. Craven, however, is less well known than other owners of prestigious mansions in the country, including Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brooks and Scott Farquhar, James Packer, and Chow Chak Wing.

Craven could not be reached for comment, but he reportedly plans to tear down the existing property and build a new one.

Mike Cannon-Brooks.

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The Sydney-born entrepreneur, who already owns a $38.5 million property on Aurong Road about 800 meters away, is on record as having purchased several million dollars worth of property in Southbank and Mount Macedon in the past four years.

Stake.com, which he co-founded in 2017, is based in Melbourne but does not accept bets from Australian customers.

It offers dazzling betting options to gamblers around the world and has reportedly processed tens of billions of dollars worth of bets.

Craven's father, James Ashley Craven, was jailed and bankrupted just a few years before his son was born for his involvement in the bankruptcy of a company known as the Spedley Group.

Jamie Craven told the AFR in 1999, "I came from boarding school, and that definitely helped me handle life in prison better."

At the time of this article, Craven was not yet two years old.

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Now, according to corporate records, Edward and his father are involved in a number of companies that support their son's business and real estate empire, including his first gaming company. There are no restrictions on Jamie Craven's ability to serve on corporate boards.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Craven does not appear to have a prominent presence on social media.

He appears in posts about Parma Fridays, the office of Easygo Gaming, another company he co-founded, but his own appearances are limited to live streams and posts purportedly by himself on Medium.

In a July 2 post, he writes that playing video games with in-game currency, such as Runescape, in high school led to his business success.

He wrote that he "educated myself in large part" about "in-game currency" and "noticed that online gaming has expanded the use of in-game digital currency and 'loot boxes.

"This opened my eyes to the potential of cryptocurrency in the gaming realm and led to my subsequent success in this area."

The mansion on St. George's Road, Toorak, which Craven purchased for more than $80 million.

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The mansion on St. George's Road, Toorak, Craven, purchased for more than $80 million. Photo CoreLogic

Craven also posts regularly about stakes. He also discussed his partnerships with celebrities such as musician Drake and former Manchester City soccer player Sergio Aguero, and why crypto enthusiasts, whom he calls Generation C, are "here to stay."

Craven appears to have launched his Medium account after an Age investigation into Stake.com.

According to that investigation, Stake.com was operated by a company founded in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, which was not covered by Australia's anti-money laundering laws, but had strong ties to Australia.

Despite the ban on online casinos, they could legally operate in Australia as long as they did not serve Australian customers or advertise in Australia.

In a recent live stream in which Craven raffled off $50,000 to Stake.com users, Craven said that the casino had recently removed from its site a series of "dodgy games" that had been used in a "recent scam" and provided by a "very untrustworthy provider" and We strongly recommend that you avoid these games.

He said on the streaming platform dlive, which has more than 16,000 followers, "We strongly recommend that you avoid these games."

Why is the Reserve Bank of Australia exploring digital currency options?

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During the remaining two hours of the live stream, Craven will sit behind the microphone in a black T-shirt, interacting with users and playing various games on the site to win money.

Some of the games, like "Monopoly Big Baller," he has never played before, and he speculates what it would be like to play in virtual reality.

Craven used his random number generator to select a virtual room, and another Stake.com staff member visited the screen looking for users to play for jackpots.

Craven seems genuinely happy to hear from people who enjoy the casino, and when one user is particularly overjoyed, he playfully asks if it is the actor's paycheck.

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