Sydney’s Star Casino targeted blackmail after job rejection
A court order against a man who started blackmailing Sydney’s Star Casino after it rejected his job application has been granted.
In court records, the man—who goes by “AB” only—applied for a job at the Star in January. However, he was not successful since he had not disclosed his extensive criminal history, according to a regular police check. Among these were convictions for various driving offenses, car theft, disobedience of domestic violence orders, and dishonesty.
A week after being rejected for the position, on April 7, AB sent an email to Star’s HR department requesting that his ex-girlfriend, a casino manager, be dismissed by 10 a.m. that same day. According to court documents, he threatened to “expose all the customers’ banking and privacy for the public” if the casino did not cooperate. He sent an email with screenshots in it that seemed to show private client data from the internal database of the casino. Because of her position at the casino and her access to the database, AB had surreptitiously obtained the information from a phone belonging to his former companion. After their recent breakup, it seems AB was now pursuing retribution against both the Star and his former partner.
Star sent AB a message a few minutes later alerting him to the potential for “civil and criminal liability.” AB responded, “She has to go, or I will put the information out,” according to court documents. The Star sent AB a summons within 48 hours in an attempt to take immediate legal action. The NSW Supreme Court issued a permanent order this week that forbids AB from disclosing any data.
Threatening to make the data public was never carried out by AB, and he later seemed to have changed his mind. He sent an apology email to the Star’s lawyers, stating that he couldn’t truly recall making the threat because he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time.
AB said:
“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.”
A few weeks later, he sent another email in which he described the “drug-induced depression” that had led to his unusual behavior. He said that he had checked himself into treatment.
He clarified that his ex-girlfriend was unrelated to the incident and urged that she not be punished for his actions. It’s uncertain if AB will be prosecuted for his acts in court.