The long-pending trial of former Sheriff Gaming CEO Stijn Flapper got underway in the Netherlands last month, some five years after Flapper and two associates were arrested in conjunction with an apparent money-laundering scheme, among other accusations. Flapper, along with alleged co-conspirators Michel and Maurice Gregoire, stands accused of both money laundering and illegal gambling. Along with Sheriff Gaming, which developed 3D slots, Flapper and the Gregoires ran a parent company, The Bubble Group, as well as a number of related sites.
This all got started in 2013 after a massive series of police raids across more than 80 locations and four countries – Holland, Germany, Spain and Belgium – coupled with the seizure of more than 100 bank accounts.
The Gregoire brothers’ real estate was seized, along with their other holdings. The real estate alone is valued at over €10 million.
There are several linked accusations in the suit, including the laundering of over €100 million and the running of several unlicensed operations. A former programmer for the firm also gave testimony that the jackpots were rigged to never hit on the software, and there has been further testimony that they were rigged to pay out only to friends and family of the owners.
The Gregoires were allegedly using holding companies based in Cyprus and Costa Rica to hide their profits in what seems to have been a highly sophisticated operation. Prosecutors announced recently that they will be seeking jail terms of between 30 months and 4 years for each of the three men.
Fascinatingly, the plot continues to thicken. Stijn Flapper has categorically denied any wrongdoing and in 2017 launched a countersuit against the government of the Netherlands for €75 million, claiming he was being illegally prosecuted and calling out the proceedings as a witchhunt. Part of the accused’s defence centers on Flapper’s contention that there was no system in place for acquiring a license at the time these businesses were created, and that they had “anticipated the legalization of their operations”.
The trial continues.
