Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority has fined Olympic Casino Group Baltija almost 8.4 million euros after a fund manager allegedly gambled away large sums of money he embezzled from his fund.
Šarūnas Stepukonis, a former partner at BaltCap Fund, is suspected of having embezzled 42 million euros.
According to the gaming authority’s director Virginijus Daukšys, the fine has been imposed on Olympic Casino for breaches of the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing and gambling laws.
Stepukonis used the company’s gambling services between December 2016 and June 2021, he said.
Large-scale embezzlement
Stepukonis, a former partner at BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, is suspected of having embezzled around 42 million euros from several companies managed by the fund, the prosecutor conducting the pre-trial investigation says.
“As of today, it has been established that more than 42 million euros has been embezzled,” Darius Karčinskas, a prosecutor from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, told journalists on Thursday.
“In addition to the above-mentioned offence, a number of other offences were committed. Therefore, a number of other articles of the Criminal Code have been added to this case,” he said.
Estonian company OB Holding 1 is also suspected of illegal commercial activity in Lithuania. Stepukonis gambled away the largest share of the money, around 31 million, via this gambling company.
“We have evidence that Stepukonis gambled with the Estonian gambling company that was not licensed in Lithuania. As a result, in order to recover the funds, we have launched a separate investigation into illegal commercial activity in relation to the Estonian company,” the prosecutor told reporters.
Stepukonis gambled away a further 5 million euros via a Lithuanian gambling company and lost around 6 million euros through an unsuccessful investment in a Hungarian brokerage firm.
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