Serious CPS Charges Levelled at Former Betting Industry Heads
Following a “complex and international investigation” 11 people are charged with serious crimes relating to gambling services in Turkey.
Happy Days: Kenny Alexander (centre) shows off his trophy after Honeysuckle scored at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival. ©Getty
Key Facts:
- High profile racehorse owner and betting industry figure charged with conspiracy to bribe and defraud.
- Kenny Alexander, former GVC Holdings Chief Executive, owns dual Champion Hurdle winning mare, Honeysuckle.
- Lee Feldman, former Chairman of the same company (now called Entain), faces identical charges.
- Charges are part of an investigation into the provision of gambling services in Turkey.
The Crown Prosecution Service has charged Kenny Alexander, the former chief executive of Entain plc (formerly called GVC Holdings), Lee Feldman, its former chairman, Richard Cooper (the company’s former finance director) and James Humberstone (former Chief Operating Officer) with offences including bribery, fraud, cheating the public revenue and tax evasion.
Entain’s former legal director, Robert Hoskin, is charged with perverting the course of justice in February 2024. Six other individuals who did not work for Entain are also accused of crimes allegedly committed between 2011 and 2018 pertaining to the provision of gambling services in Turkey.
Entain plc, whose name was changed from GVC Holdings in December 2020 to reflect a “new era of sustainability and conduct,” including a commitment to operate only in regulated markets by 2023, owns Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM, PartyPoker and other familiar UK-facing betting brands.
Alexander and Feldman Are the Headline Acts
Through his ownership of Honeysuckle – the 17-time race winner that landed two Unibet Champion Hurdles – Alexander ranks among the higher-profile executives set to go before the court. His star mare won £1.4 million during a glittering career. He currently has an exciting prospect, Eremenko, who is training with Nicky Henderson.
🗣️ "I don't think she could win it now."#Breaking – owner Kenny Alexander rules Honeysuckle out of the Champion Hurdle @CheltenhamRaces – with either the Mares' Hurdle or retirement now under consideration#DublinRacingFestival pic.twitter.com/nD9haCLcdw
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) February 5, 2023
Outside of the UK and Ireland, the media is more enamoured with Feldman’s charge. The American lawyer and businessman is the managing partner of the private equity firm, Twin Lakes Capital Management, LLC.
Its portfolio value is currently calculated to be worth $164.5 million, courtesy of positions in 221 companies ranging from Disneyland to Ryanair. Notably, none of Twin Lakes’ investments are in gambling companies.
The Pair Behind the Famous Share Price Bomb
Lee Feldman’s Wikipedia page reads: “In 2017, Feldman and the CEO of GVC, Kenny Alexander, earned a total of £26.9 million, and 44% of shareholders voted against the company’s remuneration report. In March 2019, Sky News reported that Feldman would leave GVC Holdings on or before the company’s next annual general meeting.”
“Feldman was overdue to leave under the UK corporate governance code, which recommends chairs of listed companies not to stay in position longer than nine years. The news of his departure came two weeks after Feldman sold £6 million worth of his GVC shares.”
“The CEO, Kenny Alexander, also sold shares worth £13.7 million, which led to GVC Holding’s share price falling nearly 18% in a single day. Alexander and Feldman both sold three million GVC shares at a low price of £6.66, seen by investors as a lack of confidence in the bookmaker.”
Entain Bites a £615 Million Bullet
In November 2023, after a lengthy investigation, Entain agreed to pay a penalty of £585 million plus an additional £30 million in charitable donations and a payment to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for costs, under a ‘deferred prosecution agreement’ relating to alleged bribery offences at the gambling firm’s former Turkish unit.
At the time, a Reuters article reported: “The deal could draw a line under the probe that has been a legal overhang since it was launched by the HMRC in 2019.” The latest happenings show this statement was far from prophetic.
In something of a broken love triangle, at the start of this year, Alexander and Feldman filed a lawsuit claim against both Entain and law firm Addleshaw Goddard, claiming they may have disclosed privileged information to investigators without first obtaining their consent during the bribery case involving its former Turkish business.
Link To Dissolved Payment Providers and Recruitment
Alexander, Feldman and their nine co-defendants are due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on October 6. Amongst those is Richard Anthony Raubitschek-Smith, who is listed by gov.uk as the director of several payment service providers throughout the mid-2010s.
Alexander MacAngus, 64, resident on the tax haven of Jersey, who sat alongside Raubitschek-Smith as a director of dissolved companies PinPay and Trustpay Secure, is another charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to bribe between 2011 and 2018.
Also charged with the same offences are Robert Douglas Edwin Dowling, 50 – currently a director of eight companies, including online betting and iGaming recruitment agency, Pentasia – and 59-year-old Raymond Matthew Smart of Guernsey.
Two With Bigger Issues
Scott William Masterton is facing fraud and bribery charges, plus fraudulent trading, cheating the public revenue (between 2011 and 2017) and acting as a company director when undischarged bankrupt between 2010 and 2017.
Through a Lincolnshire-based company called Locki Europe, Masterton is closely related to the final defendant, 48-year-old Caroline Patricia Roe. She is charged with conspiracy to defraud and bribe between 2011 and 2018, fraudulent trading (2011-2017), and fraudulent income tax evasion (2012 to 2017).
Richard Las, Director of HMRC’s fraud investigation service, has said: “This has been a complex and international investigation.” Outlining the severity of the charges, he added: “We remind everyone that proceedings are now active, and we won’t be adding anything further.”
