Major raid at tipster: illegal games of chance, tax evasion, illegal work, building a criminal association?
Last Thursday, the 20th. April, several civil servants from different authorities took part in a raid on the well-known sports betting provider tipster. Investigations were also carried out in foreign countries. According to the press conference of the Landeskriminalamt NRW, as well as reports of the different newspapers – among others the Bild, Spiegel and the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger – there are several accusations.
At 11 o’clock the authorities started searching several premises of the sports betting provider tipster which is situated all over Germany. The operation took place in private apartments, betting offices and other business premises in NRW (Cologne), Bremen, Berlin, Saxony, and Bavaria. Evidence was sought even in Malta, where tipster has an office as well as a licence, and in Croatia. The search took place in more than around 100 objects.
It is still not known what the company is being accused of. However, there are different offences:
In its press conference. the Landeskriminalamt Nordrhein-Westfalen, spoke about its suspicions that there were illegal games, that wages were being withheld (illegal work) and that a criminal organisation was being built. Tax evasion was also mentioned. Searches were carried out and there were also several arrests.
Large operations after several years of investigations – focus Cologne
More than 900 public officers were involved in an operation which lasted several hours. The investigators did not only secure evidence but also financial assets. The focus of the operations was on Cologne where there is also the company head office of tipster.
A police spokesperson informed the Spiegel that the employees there were very surprised. They did not have the slightest idea of the investigations, which according to the Landeskriminalamt NRW had been going on but were kept silent for more than two years.
The public prosecutor’s office was and is still responsible. It was managing hundreds of police officers, special forces of the ZeOS (Zentralstelle für organisierte Straftaten) which is the Central Office for Organised Crime, customs employees, financial investigators, and cybercrime experts which were involved in the operations.
The press conference of the Landeskriminalamt states that means of evidence, cash and valuable things were secured. Assets amounting to two digit million figures were seized. During all these investigations a large amount of data was transferred and saved.
The company tipster
The sports betting provider tipster was founded in 2010 in Malta and still has a licence there. Meanwhile the company also holds a German licence which is regulated by the GGL, the Gemeinsamen Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, (GGL). The company head office for the German market is based in Cologne. Tipster also provides its services in other countries in Europe. It has a network of 200 employees in Europe as well as 3000 kibitzer worldwide. The company mentions its own quota management and the especially fast updating of the values which result from it as its unique features.
Several arrests
Arrest warrants were issued for members of tipster’s business management team. The six male main suspects were immediately arrested. They are between 34 and 60 years old. The arrests took place in several places, among them in Köln and in Brühl.
No information has yet been released about what the suspects are being accused of. The Landeskriminalamt Nordrhine-Westphalia is suspecting them of having operated illegal games of chance, illegal work and building a criminal association. Further crimes are not being ruled out. According to the official statement no clear information about these can however be given.
According the Landeskriminalamt NRW the investigations are still ongoing. The evaluation of the evidence seized will take some time. Thus, we do not expect concrete details about the case so soon.
Betting provider’s server targeted
Besides having searched the offices and other business locations the investigators also tapped into the tipster’s server in Cologne. They had to gain access to a special vault to do this.
According to the report in Bild a special vehicle was used to enable the investigators to transfer large amounts of data directly to the police cloud. Besides this the vehicle also provides workspaces where the digital information can be analysed.
The Bild writes that the equipment’s facilities were used extensively during the raid. Server data as well as other storage media and smartphones were secured. An immediate evaluation took place. Public officers delivered new data to the cyber-crime forces.
Conclusion
Even if till now no concrete information has been given about the charges against tipster, the case is a big one and worth the effort. Such long-term investigations, corresponding common access and the immediate arrest of several members of the company’s management team indicate serious offences which might be legally massively supported.
We must show some patience till we know the outcome of these investigations, that is for what crime tipster will be called to account and to what extent. We will inform you as soon as possible, when there is important news about the case.
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