Star Casino Blackmailed with Data Leak Threat by Unsuccessful Job Applicant

Posted on: June 12, 2024, 02:33h. 

Last updated on: June 12, 2024, 02:33h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Sydney’s Star Casino has been granted a court injunction against a man who began blackmailing the casino after it turned down his job application.

Star Sydney, blackmail
The Star Sydney, above, rejected the unnamed job applicant because he had failed to disclose his lengthy criminal record. (Image: Star Entertainment)

The man, referred to only as “AB” in court documents, applied for a job at the Star in January, Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports. But he was unsuccessful after a routine police check found he had failed to declare his lengthy criminal record.

This included convictions for dishonesty, car theft, breaching domestic violence orders, and assorted traffic offences.

Out for Revenge

On April 7, a week after he was turned down for the job, AB emailed Star’s HR department demanding that his ex-girlfriend, a manager at the casino, be fired by 10 a.m. that morning. If the casino failed to comply, he would “expose all the customers’ banking and privacy for [sic] the public,” according to court documents.

His email included screenshots that appeared to show confidential customer information from the casino’s internal database.

AB had secretly obtained the information from a phone belonging to his former partner, whose role at the casino afforded her access to the database. The couple had recently split, and it appears AB was now seeking revenge against both the Star and his ex.

Within minutes, Star messaged AB to warn him that he was exposing himself to “civil and criminal liability.”

“She has to go, or I will put the information out,” AB replied, according to court filings.

The Star sought urgent legal action, serving AB with a summons within 48 hours. This week, the NSW Supreme Court granted a permanent injunction prohibiting AB from releasing any data.

Change of Heart

AB never followed through with his threat to make the data public, and later he appeared to have a change of heart.

He emailed lawyers for the Star to apologize, claiming he was “heavy on alcoholic [sic] and drugs” at the time he issued the threat and couldn’t really remember making it.

I don’t recall any of this, I’m sorry. I don’t have nothing. To be honest, just was in a different world. I don’t even remember doing or saying this,” he wrote.

He sent another email a few weeks later, describing the “drug-induced depression” that had induced him to act out of character. He added that he had now entered rehab.

He asked that his ex-girlfriend not be reprimanded because of his actions, confirming she had nothing to do with the fiasco.

It’s unclear whether AB will face any criminal charges for his actions.