An Italian court has acquitted two men, who owned Maltese-registered gaming company Betsolution, of mafia connections, 10 years after Operation Gambling.
The court acquitted Domenico Lagrotteria and Alessandro Ciaffi, the Italian directors of Betsolution, who had been arrested in Malta and extradited to Italy back in 2015. The court found that there was no mafia influence in the company’s gambling operations.
The investigation had caused a stir back then since Betsolution was represented in Malta by GVM Holding Ltd, belonging to David Gonzi, former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s son. Gonzi offered fiduciary services.
Lagrotteria and Ciaffi were among several others charged by the Italian police with mafia association and money laundering through online betting and gambling sites based in Malta and other foreign jurisdictions. The Malta Gaming Authority had suspended the licences of Uniq Group Ltd and Betsolution4U Ltd, firms that had been operating since 2011.
The court did find Antonino Alvaro and Cristian Fortunato guilty mafia connections and sentenced them to 10 and seven years in jail respectively, confiscating their assets.
However, the court in Reggio Calabria acquitted everyone else, insisting that the alleged crimes never happened.
Among those who were acquitted were the agents who formed part of Betsolution’s commercial network—Vincenzo Giuliano and Mario Vardè—and international online poker provider Davide Taher.
The court also ruled that other minor charges linked to tax irregularities and abusive gambling practices were time-barred.
Among those charged in 2015 was Mario Gennaro, considered at the time as the point man of the Tegano clan of Reggio with associations with the ‘Ndrangheta. Gennaro was also extradited from Malta and later became a collaborator to justice.