{"id":143709,"date":"2020-08-04T03:46:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T10:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=143709"},"modified":"2020-08-04T12:27:45","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T19:27:45","slug":"wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Fallen Fintech Giant Wirecard Processed Payments for Mafia-Owned Online Gambling Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disgraced German fintech group Wirecard once processed payments for Centurionbet, an online gambling outfit that was linked to the powerful Italian organized crime syndicate the \u2019Ndrangheta<\/a>, The Financial Times<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Wirecard\"
Wanted: Former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek is being hunted by Interpol. New reports suggest he could be in Minsk, Belarus. (Wirecard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2018, the Italian courts ordered Centurionbet\u2019s assets to be frozen after concluding the Malta-based company had laundered millions of euros from the \u2019Ndrangheta\u2019s vast criminal empire.<\/p>\n

For many years the poor cousin to Sicily\u2019s Cosa Nostra, the \u2019Ndrangheta — from Calabria, the \u201ctoe\u201d of Italy\u2019s \u201cfoot\u201d — now has a presence in 100 countries and estimated revenues of $50 billion to $100 billion. It controls 70 percent of the cocaine in Europe and much of the illegal arms trade around the world, selling weapons to both sides in the Syrian Civil War.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Centurionbet was owned by the Martiradonna clan of Sacra Corona Unita (SCU) or the Apulian Mafia. This included Vito Martiradonna, a convicted SCU boss, and his two tech-savvy sons, Michele and Francesco since imprisoned.<\/p>\n

According to documents seen by the FT<\/em>, Wirecard<\/a> also processed payments for another, even larger, Maltese gambling company that is currently under investigation for links to organized crime.<\/p>\n

Fluid Organizations <\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to Italian prosecutors, the various mafia syndicates of southern Italy had become unified \u201cfluid organizations\u201d that, between them, managed a vast network of businesses, including online gambling operations like Centurionbet. This allowed them to recycle vast sums of money from each other’s enterprises.<\/p>\n

Wirecard processed transactions for Centurionbet until 2017 when the Malta-based gambling outfit\u2019s license was revoked by the Malta Gaming Authority.<\/p>\n

\n

The payments group may not have known about Centurionbet\u2019s shady ownership until it was publicly exposed in 2017. But it raises questions about Wirecard\u2019s checks and balances and its anti-money-laundering protocols.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A report in The Times<\/em> last month revealed the company was suspected of using fake online stores to hide illegal online gambling payments for the unregulated markets, a practice known as \u201ctransaction laundering.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

World\u2019s Most Wanted <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Just two years ago, Wirecard was feted as the leading light in German fintech, with a market cap of more than \u20ac22 billion ($25 billion). But in June, auditor Ernst and Young discovered that \u20ac1.9 billion ($2.2 billion) was \u201cmissing\u201d from the company accounts.<\/p>\n

The Wirecard board admitted the \u20ac1.9 billion \u201cin all likelihood\u201d never existed, and that the accounts had been falsified to artificially inflate the company\u2019s assets and sales.<\/strong><\/p>\n

German prosecutors have since arrested three former top Wirecard executives, including former CEO Markus Braun, on suspicion of orchestrating \u201ca massive criminal act\u201d to defraud creditors of billions of euros.<\/p>\n

\n

The company\u2019s former COO, Jan Marsalek, is on the run and is now one of the world\u2019s most wanted men.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It was reported that he fled to China via the Philippines. But investigative journalism site Bellingcat<\/em> has found evidence that flight information and immigration records pointing to this were forged. Bellingcat<\/em> believes Marsalek is currently in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disgraced German fintech group Wirecard once processed payments for Centurionbet, an online gambling outfit that was linked to the powerful Italian organized crime syndicate the \u2019Ndrangheta, The Financial Times reports. In 2018, the Italian courts ordered Centurionbet\u2019s assets to be frozen after concluding the Malta-based company had laundered millions of euros from the \u2019Ndrangheta\u2019s vast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":143710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWirecard Processed Payments for Mafia Owned Online Gambling Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wirecard once processed payments for Centurionbet, owned by the by the Martiradonna clan of Sacra Corona Unita and laundered \u2019Ndrangheta money.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wirecard Processed Payments for Mafia Owned Online Gambling Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wirecard once processed payments for Centurionbet, owned by the by the Martiradonna clan of Sacra Corona Unita and laundered \u2019Ndrangheta money.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-04T10:46:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-04T19:27:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jan.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1017\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"654\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/\",\"name\":\"Wirecard Processed Payments for Mafia Owned Online Gambling Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jan.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-04T10:46:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-04T19:27:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Wirecard once processed payments for Centurionbet, owned by the by the Martiradonna clan of Sacra Corona Unita and laundered \u2019Ndrangheta money.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-processed-payments-for-mafia-owned-online-gambling-group\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jan.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jan.jpg\",\"width\":1017,\"height\":654,\"caption\":\"Former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek is currently being hunted by Interpol. 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