Entain Suffers $758K Loss Due to Deceitful Asset Manager's Actions
Aussie gaming company Entain Australia has been hit with a hefty AU$78,540 (approx. $51,800 USD) fine by Northern Territory authorities. The reason? Negligence that allowed a sneaky wealth manager named Gavin Fineff, 42, to squander an astonishing $758,510 of his clients' hard-earned cash.
But guess who still gets to keep that mind-blowing $758,510 (approx. $500,000 USD)? None other than Fineff himself, who blew through it all on his Ladbrokes sportsbook, despite the fact that he was found to have flouted Australia's sports betting industry rules.
Fineff was indicted in May 2021 for alleged involvement in a whopping AU$3.3 million (approx. $2.1 million USD) scam to fuel his insatiable sports betting addiction.
Over a 21-month period that Fineff had a Ladbrokes betting account, he placed stakes worth a staggering AU$17.5 million (approx. $11.5 million USD), losing a whopping $758,510. That's according to court records.
High Roller Accused
The authorities started probing Fineff, a high-profile financial advisor, following reports of an 86-year-old woman being swindled. They discovered that he had pilfered funds from a total of 12 investors, diverting money intended for share holdings into his personal bank account, as alleged by prosecutors.
Fineff admitted his guilt in September in the New South Wales District Court and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
The Northern Territories Racing Commission found that Ladbrokes invited Fineff to open a betting account, after learning about his rampant gambling at another sportsbook. This was the first violation of the code. The other two offenses involved Ladbrokes' failure to respond to red flags raised by Fineff's reckless gambling habits. However, the regulator decided that the bets were legit, so Ladbrokes would only have been fined the full amount if the bets had been deemed illegal.
Despite Ladbrokes' failures to adhere to its license conditions and the 2016 and 2019 Codes, the integrity of each bet placed by Fineff with Ladbrokes has not been compromised to the extent that each bet should not be honored, the regulator stated.
The commission determined that Ladbrokes' interactions with Fineff weren't intense enough for staff to "reasonably suspect" that some of his betting funds might have come from illegal activities.
UK Woes
Entain wasn't spared from the UK Gambling Commission's displeasure in August 2022 either. That's when it slapped the company with a record £17 million (approximately $21 million USD) penalty for a slew of unacceptable lapses in social responsibility and anti-money laundering practices.
The company handed over huge sums of money to certain customers, including one who staff knew resided in social housing, without carrying out the necessary checks and balances.
The regulator warned that recurring infractions could lead to the revocation of its UK license.
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