Monthly Archives: May 2015

Football world rocked as top FIFA officials arrested on corruption charges

The football world was shaken up early Wednesday morning on news of the arrest of seven top FIFA officials in Zurich on corruption charges.

US authorities filed indictments of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy against 14 individuals – including FIFA VP Jeffrey Webb, who is also president of North American and Latin American football governing body CONCACAF – following a multi-year investigation. The arrested individuals are being held in a Swiss luxury hotel (natch) while extradition proceedings play themselves out.

Newly sworn US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the corruption was “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States.” The US got involved because “these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US and payments were carried out via US banks.”

Lynch said “at least two generations of soccer officials” had “abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.” Over a dozen different schemes stemming from marketing deals in the US, Brazil and Latin America have been uncovered dating back to the 1990s, with the total amount of illicit funds topping $100m.

Cambodian casino accused of torturing staff after $161k goes missing

A Cambodian casino is under fire for allegedly torturing three Indonesian employees over some purloined casino cash.

Earlier this week, the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh asked police to arrest employees of the Grand Dragon Resort for allegedly mistreating Indonesian nationals who worked at the casino. The casino, which is based in Kandal province near the Vietnamese border, is owned by the Dai Long Company.

Cambodia Daily reported that the casino employed 17 Indonesian nationals, one of whom fled on May 9 along with $161k of the casino’s funds. The Indonesian embassy claims the “mafia-style” casino ordered the detention of the remaining Indonesians, three of whom “suffered physical abuses from the casino” while all 16 had been “threatened by the casino’s leader with an electric shock device.”

Grand Dragon Resort attorney Ros Sitha rejected the torture allegations, saying: “They are staff, how can we torture them?” Sitha added that the casino had “enough evidence to show that [the other Indonesians] committed the crime” and told the embassy not to get involved in this “private issue.”

Mustapha Kanit Wins SCOOP Main Event

Winning the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event is enough to make a poker player’s dreams come true, no matter what those dreams might be. And while we don’t know exactly what Mustapha Kanit plans to do with his prize money, we are sure that $1.3 million can pay for a lot of lasagna. […]

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Singaporean man tricks Solaire Manila and Bullion investors

Dominic Sim, a 37-year-old Singaporean, has been charged with deceiving Solaire Resort and Casino Manila.

Solaire representatives said that Sim was a junket operator in the casino in 2013. He used to buy chips from the casino to pass on to the gamblers. In February 2014, Sim allegedly used a fraudulent wire transfer in a bid to trick the casino into releasing US$30m worth of chips.

The casino issued him $8m worth of chips but Sim was confronted when the transfer did not push through. After months of excuses from Sim for not returning the money, Solaire was pushed to file a police report and eventually recovered $3m worth of chips.

Sim was arrested on April 21 and was charged on May 14. Sim is out on bail but is not permitted to leave the Philippines.

ARJEL grants French igaming license extensions to bwin, Unibet, and BetClic

France’s online gaming regulator L’Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) has awarded iGaming license extensions to a number of operators following the expiration of the original five-year licenses issued in May 2010.

Unibet, bwin.party and Betclic Everest Group are the first batch of operators to have their operating licences renewed as well as Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) and French lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ).

Partypoker brand, Winamax, and PokerStars were also recent license recipients.

The new licenses will run for five years, from June of this year to June 2020.

Cristiano Ronaldo Joins PokerStars as Latest Sports Superstar

Cristiano Ronaldo is the latest global sports megastar to sign on with PokerStars, which now counts Neymar Jr., Rafael Nadal and (the other) Ronaldo among its “Team Sports Stars” group of brand ambassadors. Rumors were swirling at the beginning of the month that the Real Madrid star was ripe for the picking, but when Neymar […]

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Michigan House Oks Bill To Allow Anonymous Lottery Winners

The bill would allow winners of multi-state games such as Mega Millions, Powerball and Lucky for Life to remain anonymous. Bill sponsor Rep. Ray Franz says the measure is needed to protect people who win large amounts of money and then are barraged with requests for financial help or face pressure to leave their jobs even if they wish to continue working.

Cops split nearly $10m seized from Legendz Sports

U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian announced that the nearly $10m seized from the defunct online sportsbook Legendz Sports were distributed to six law enforcement agencies that worked on the case.

U.S. Marshal’s Service distributed a total of $9,628,093.75. The largest amount, $4.66m, will go to the Albany County Sheriff’s department, $862,468 to the Albany County district attorney’s office and $363,833.85 to Saratoga County District Attorney’s office. The remaining funds will be distributed to the Internal Revenue Service ($1.6m), Broward county sheriff’s department in south Florida ($104,946), and the FBI ($1.9m).

“Stripping criminals of illegal profits deprives them of the fuel that sustains their illegitimate enterprises,” said Hartunian.  “In illegal gambling, money is both the way the crime is committed and the reason for committing it.  No money equals no crime.”

“Forfeiting the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime puts the money to work for good – helping the victims of crime, funding community programs and providing resources to be used to promote public safety,” Hartunian added. “Such sharing can enable a local police chief, sheriff, or district attorney to commit the necessary resources to conduct a complex, long term investigation that in the end enhances public safety.”