Gibraltar’s Supreme Court has sentenced Mansion Group’s former chief executive officer, Karel Mañasco, to 12 months in prison. This followed his earlier failure to appear in court.
Mañasco Failed to Comply with Earlier Court Orders
Mañasco is the former CEO and CFO of the Mansion Gibraltar iGaming operator. The group, however, eventually accused Mañasco of embezzling company funds and asserted that he had misappropriated some $6.6 million during his time at the helm of the operator.
While Mañasco denied the accusations, his actions didn’t help his point. Instead of complying with court orders that imposed certain spending limits on him, he continued to spend freely and later submitted a false affidavit that didn’t properly describe his expenses.
To make matters worse, he violated worldwide freezing orders by transferring frozen funds into his wife’s bank account and allegedly used bank accounts which the court didn’t approve.
Mañasco later insisted that he hadn’t properly understood the court orders – a claim which the prosecution rejected.
Mañasco was originally set to be sentenced on April 9. However, the ex-CEO of Mansion Group failed to appear in court on that date, leading to local authorities issuing a warrant for his arrest. His sentencing, on the other hand, was postponed, with May 14 as the new date.
The Judge Will Not Suspend the Sentence
During the sentencing, Chief Justice Dudley found Mañasco guilty of multiple counts of contempt of court. Citing the ex-CEO’s aforementioned failure to comply with court orders, Dudley pointed out that Mañasco illegally transferred huge amounts of money overseas and then submitted a faulty document to the court.
As a result, the court slammed Mañasco with a concurrent custodial sentence of 12 months. This encompasses a 3-month sentence for his submission of a false document, as well as a 12-month sentence, with a 6-month remission if he returns the money he transferred overseas.
Dudley said that he would not suspend the sentence despite Mañasco’s good character due to the serious nature of the latter man’s violations and his repeated failures to comply with court orders.
However, the accused can appeal the sentence within 14 days – something that he is reportedly considering.