Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) have detained the director of a company that operated in Ukraine under the online casino brand "PIN-UP."
The investigation has revealed that the real owners of this commercial entity, which was licensed to conduct online gambling operations, are citizens of the Russian Federation.
The detained individual has been informed of the suspicion of assisting the aggressor state. A petition for a detention order is being prepared.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. The involvement of other suspects is being documented, and the circle of individuals implicated is being determined.
As a reminder, during the investigation into the operations of this online casino, SBI officers and prosecutors from the Office of the General Prosecutor, in cooperation with the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, uncovered evidence of assistance to the aggressor state by representatives of the company.
The investigation has confirmed the documented links of the online casino to representatives of the Russian Federation, individuals sanctioned in Ukraine, and established financial flows benefiting the aggressor state’s budget and supporting activities related to armed aggression against Ukraine.
SBI officers conducted a comprehensive set of procedural measures, including technical procedures with the involvement of relevant experts, who confirmed the negative impact on the combat readiness of Ukraine’s Armed Forces due to the use of services by this online casino.
The investigation also revealed that individuals connected to the casino's activities are conducting business operations in the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic” (LNR), thus contributing to the enemy's budget.
Additionally, the individual directly controlling the online casino’s operations has been financing veterans of the so-called “special military operation” since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The online casino itself continues its operations on Russian territory and Russian web resources, as confirmed by the Bureau during the pre-trial investigation.
Based on the gathered evidence, the heads and members of the Gambling and Lottery Regulation Commission have been notified of suspicions related to assisting the aggressor state and the illegal production, acquisition, storage, transportation, or transmission of narcotic substances and psychotropic substances or their analogs without the intent of sale, along with assisting the aggressor state.
Suspicion notices have also been issued to the actual beneficial owners of the online casino, the nominal owner, and individuals connected with its activities, including the owner of the trademark and domain name. Some of these individuals are currently wanted. In January of this year, the SBI arrested the nominal owner of the "PIN-UP" online casino.
In addition, the court has granted the SBI and the Office of the General Prosecutor’s request to transfer over 2.6 billion UAH, which were seized from the accounts of the online casino connected to representatives of the aggressor state, to the management of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).
The procedural leadership of the case is being carried out by the Office of the General Prosecutor.
