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A Gibraltar bookmaker whose name appears on a number of Premier League shirts has been accused of operating illegal online gambling in more than a dozen countries.
The charges emerged during a secretive legal battle currently underway in Gibraltar’s Supreme Court. Olive Press Can reveal.
The sensational multi-million pound lawsuit was brought by the remnants of Mansion Group against its former chief executive, 43-year-old Karel Manasco.
Manasco accused the now-defunct gaming giant of participating in a scandal known as “grey area gaming.”
This involved illegal trading in multiple countries and led to several governments, including Austria and Germany, being implicated in fraud.
Manasco claimed that these activities “constituted real and undisclosed profits for the Wansheng Group in Europe”, which the company denied.
Shocking alleged illegal activities include operating without a license, circumventing regulations, tax evasion, and conducting online gambling in countries where it is illegal.
In addition to its core market in the UK, the charges also concern its activities in a number of countries including France, South Africa, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Spain.
It is alleged that a number of secret, hard-to-trace companies were set up in 2011 on the Caribbean island of Curacao, some through the notorious Mossack Fonseca law firm, which gained notoriety in the Panama Papers scandal.
Mansion allegedly set up a company called Casino Midas in 2011 to operate in France after France decided to crack down on offshore online casinos.
As countries continue to introduce increasingly stringent online gaming rules, the regulatory ropes are beginning to tighten further.
Mansion allegedly continued to profit secretly until 2015, when the company was hastily shut down after French regulators blacklisted Casino Midas and threatened to investigate it.
In an email Olive Press A spokesperson for Mansion has strongly denied the allegations and called them “completely baseless.”
The allegations were sparked by public allegations that Gibraltarian Manasco accepted huge bonuses and squandered company funds on luxury cars and high-value watches.
Mansion ultimately won a worldwide freezing order (WFO) against Manasco, which will be enforced in 2023 and freezes an amount of €5 million.
The former Mansion CEO insisted the allegations were “complete lies” and that Mansion was simply trying to “destroy” him after he began exposing Mansion’s business practices.
Asian Origins
Mansion Group is the European arm of Asian brand M88, which operates well-known brands such as Casino.com, Mansion Casino and Slots Heaven from its headquarters in Gibraltar.
This is not the first time the group, believed to be owned by Indonesian billionaire Putera Sampoerna and his wife Kathleen Chow Liem, has made headlines for misconduct.
Back in 2020, English Premier League football club AFC Bournemouth terminated its sponsorship agreement following an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission into Mansion Group.
The committee has announced it is investigating “all aspects” of Mansion Group’s “pattern and operations”.
But by September 2023, Mansion’s main operations will close permanently, with all of its previous casino brands to be phased out over the following year.
connect
Olive Press It can also be revealed that during the period of the alleged wrongdoing, between 2011 and 2021, Mansion Group was linked to Gibraltar’s then Minister for Finance and Gaming, Albert Isola CBE.
The then minister’s family law firm Isolas, run by Albert Isola and his brother Peter Isola, represented the Mansion Group on its legal affairs in Gibraltar, including the legal action against Manasco.
Mansion even operates out of office space in Isolas’ controversial Europort building.
The controversial building has come under scrutiny since it was bought by the Isola Family Trust in 2018 for a bargain price from Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The judge who approved Isolas’ controversial deal to buy weapons from a sanctioned general responsible for the massacre of thousands of civilians in Syria was Chief Justice Anthony Dudley, the same judge who heard Manson v. Manasco.
Meanwhile, Isolas’ sister company Fiduciary has worked more closely with Mansion Group, helping it with its opaque ownership behind the scenes through trust management services.
The trust’s chairman, Peter Isola, is the then minister’s brother and also sits on the board of Gibraltar gaming company Entain (formerly GVC) as a non-executive director.
Peter Isola has resigned from the remuneration committee of Entain, the parent company of high street brands including Ladbrokes and Coral, after shareholders expressed dissatisfaction with executive pay.
In an email Olive Presidents, trustee executive Joey Imossi insisted he could not speak about the case.
“With regard to Mr Manasco and the case as a whole, we refer you to the various published judgments of the Gibraltar Supreme Court.”
He denied any conflict of interest arising from Albert Isola’s simultaneous duties as Minister of Finance and Gaming and Isola’s senior partner because he was “on leave while serving as minister”.
He further clarified: “The Trustee provided secretarial administration services to Mansion in the usual manner of corporate service providers.
He added: “Peter Isola was never removed from the Entain board and resigned in 2022 after serving on the board for six years.”
In 2023, Entain was charged with criminal offences by UK prosecutors over historical bribery allegations at its Turkish subsidiary.
Despite agreeing to pay a £615m fine in the UK while holding a Gibraltar gaming licence, the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner did not investigate.
Lack of action
The Gibraltar Gambling Commission has yet to launch a formal investigation into Manasco’s allegations against Mansion.
When they reported the matter to Commissioner Andrew Lyman in July 2023, he wrote to Manasco’s lawyers stating that “these bald assertions are not sufficient to initiate an immediate investigation.”
The lack of action has frustrated some observers, especially given that other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom and France, have taken proactive steps.
The case is likely to raise further questions about the regulation of Gibraltar’s massive online gambling industry, which the government says accounts for 28% of the jurisdiction’s GDP.
read more: Gibraltar finally gets approval from economic crime watchdog to be removed from FATF ‘grey list’
“The government and the Gaming Commission have taken note of a number of allegations made by Mr Manasco in the lawsuit brought by Mansion against Mr Manasco,” a spokesperson told reporters. Olive Press.
“Civil proceedings are ongoing at this time so it would be inappropriate to make any comment.”
However, Imosi separately insisted that the Gambling Commissioner “approved several bookmakers during Albert Isola’s tenure as minister”.
closure
Albert Isola, who appointed Lehmann in 2017, resigned as minister overseeing the gaming industry and returned to his position at his law firm Isolas in September 2023.
Around the same time, Mansion closed all of its online casino brands, ceasing operations in Europe in October 2023 and laying off 200 employees.
Shockingly, these two moves came just as Manasco was preparing to submit detailed documents to the court exposing Mansion’s alleged “gray area games.”
Manasco joined Mansion in 2010 as financial director at the age of 29, and was promoted to CEO of Mansion in 2015, replacing the former CEO who was forced to resign. Manasco was only 36 at the time.
Manasco claimed that under his supervision, Manson & Co. engaged in a range of illegal conduct, to which he himself admitted.
These included defrauding affiliated partners and allegedly defrauding the German and Austrian governments of taxes.
However, Manasco claims that it was his refusal to participate in similar plans involving the Israeli market that led Mansion to kick him out of the company in 2021.
Mansion’s civil lawsuit against Manasco continues.
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