Šarūnas Stepukonis, a former BaltCap Infrastructure Fund (BInF) partner, gambled away most of the money he is suspected of having embezzled, European Delegated Prosecutor Darius Karčinskas said on Monday.
“Most of the embezzled assets were lost in gambling companies operating in both Lithuania and Estonia,” Karčinskas told reporters.
According to him, Stepukonis gambled away more than 20 million euros, adding that the exact amount was still being determined.
“We are collecting data from gambling companies and comparing them with bank statements and other material. I cannot give you a specific figure at the moment,” the prosecutor said.
Stepukonis was a problem gambler, according to Virginijus Daukšys, head of Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority.
“Stepukonis had many years of gambling experience, and his gambling certainly didn’t look like recreational gambling. It was very intense and was more like problem gambling or pathological gambling,” he told a press conference Monday.
The gambling watchdog is currently conducting an investigation into Stepukonis and the gambling company Olympic, he said.
According to Daukšys, Stepukonis had been gambling for about five years.
“His gambling was similar to problematic or pathological gambling, the amounts varied, but it was gambling which fits the characteristics, as it was continuous and would take place every day,” he said.
Law enforcement bodies are conducting two pre-trial investigations against Stepukonis. In one of them, he has been identified as a suspect for misappropriating more than 27 million euros.
Another pre-trial investigation, which was closed in 2022, has recently been reopened in connection with a transfer of 3.9 million euros to Stepukonis from a Polish company for the alleged sale of shares.
As part of the investigation, around 15 searches were carried out in Lithuania and Estonia last week.
Law enforcement bodies are also investigating whether some funds allegedly misappropriated by Stepukonis were directed to Interactive Brokers Central Europe, a Hungarian-registered securities trading platform.
“Data is being compiled and bank accounts are being analysed to see whether the money was diverted to the stock exchange and whether the brokerage firm was also involved in this situation,” Karčinskas said.
“The data and the company are known for the pre-trial investigation, but it’s not time yet to draw any conclusions,” he added.
The Vilnius Regional Court last week imposed a temporary freeze on 5.485 million euros worth of Stepukonis' assets and blocked accounts opened in his name, including on the Interactive Brokers Central Europe platform.
Last week, Stepukonis was detained in Lithuania and subsequently arrested for two weeks.
Stepukonis returned to Lithuania after law enforcement officers made contact with him while he was in Ukraine, said Rolandas Kiškis, head of Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT).
“He has been cooperating ever since we contacted him,” Kiškis told reporters on Monday. “This means that after our law enforcement agencies took action in cooperation with him, he returned to Lithuania in a sufficiently short period of time and was detained.”
According to Karčinskas, Stepukonis “doesn’t fully deny his guilt” but gives “his own version of events” in his testimony.
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