Star Entertainment Group is facing a second securities class action in the Supreme Court of Victoria, with Maurice Blackburn serving a statement of claim to the casino operator.
The claim alleges the company made misleading representations- including about its systems and processes for compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations- that it failed to disclose relevant information about those matters to the market, and that it conducted its affairs contrary to the interest of The Star’s members from March 29, 2016 to March 16, 2022.
Star Entertainment Group has been served a statement of claim for a securities class action in Victoria.Credit:Edwina Pickles
Two independent inquiries in Queensland and New South Wales recommended The Star be stripped of its casino licences, following a 2021 investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes. The investigation alleged the company enabled suspected money laundering, large-scale fraud and foreign interference in its Australian casinos, even though its board was warned its anti-money-laundering controls were failing.
The group’s share price fell by almost 23 per cent, 98 cents, in a single day of trading on October 11, 2021- one day after the investigation was published- and reportedly wiped nearly $1 billion off its market value.
Maurice Blackburn said the proposed class action will allege that The Star engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct; breached its continuous disclosure obligations; and conducted its affairs contrary to the interests of members as a whole in the period.
The Star said it intends to defend the proceedings. It also said the claim is similar to the separate securities class action filed by Slater & Gordon on March 30, 2022.
Slater and Gordon Class Actions senior associate Ben Zocco said in March the firm’s investigation into whether investors had a case against Star began in October 2021, and the analysis undertaken to date suggested that investors had a strong case.
“For the last six years, Star has held itself out to be a model casino operator that took its obligations seriously and followed not only the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law,” Zocco said at the time.
More to come.
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