Everleaf Director Jean Pavili Arrested on Charges of Misappropriating Funds
The police in Malta arrested Austrian Jean Pavili, a director of the now defunct Everleaf Gaming, on charges of misappropriating approximately �800,000 ($997,816) from players and not paying about �100,000 ($124,727) in licenses and fees.
Pavili has already posted bail via a �10,000 ($12,473) cash deposit, a personal guarantee of �10,000 ($12,473), and the freezing of �900,000 ($1,122,540) of his assets located in Malta and other countries.
Magistrate Dr. Saviour Demicoli granted bail after considering these assets being sufficient to cover potential damages associated with the gaming company's violations including failing to pay his gaming license and tax, failing to notify the Lotteries and Gaming Authority of the relocation of the control system, failing to deposit winnings, and failing to disclose all ultimate beneficiaries, to ensure that all are fit and proper. Pavili has plead not guilty to all the charges.
Pavili is the second Everleaf director arrested in recent months. Everleaf director Michael Zwi Oros was arrested on the same charges in Sept. before being granted bail under similar conditions.
Everleaf continued to illegally service US players after Black Friday occurred on April 15, 2014, when PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, and Absolute Poker were all indicted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Everleaf only withdrew from the US market in Feb. 2012 when $27,000 was seized from one of its payment processors.
The problems at Everleaf continued to pile up, which finally led to the Maltese Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) to suspend the company's gaming licenses in July 2013. The LGA demanded that Everleaf cease registering new players, discontinue accepting new deposits, or offer any games.
The LGA received critism throughout the gaming industry for how it handled the Everleaf situation, which led to new executive director Joseph Cuschieri accepting responsibility for recovering player funds and possibly using LGA funds as part of the compensation. Cuschieri has previously implied that the LGA has learned from this experience and understands that the level of player confidence in the gaming regulator is important to its future success.
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