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The former chief executive and chair of the London-listed owner of Ladbrokes are among 11 individuals charged as part of an investigation into the provision of gambling services in Turkey, in a rare example of British prosecutors bringing criminal proceedings against a FTSE boss.
Prosecutors said on Thursday that Kenny Alexander, chief executive of GVC until 2020, and Lee Feldman, former non-executive chair, had both been charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to bribe. GVC renamed itself Entain following Alexander’s departure.
The alleged offences related to the provision of gambling services in Turkey between 2011 and 2018, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Alexander, a 56-year-old Scot, built GVC from a £26mn operator of one German casino into a global gambling group.
The criminal charges against him are some of the first filed by English prosecutors against a boss of a FTSE-listed company since the Serious Fraud Office charged John Varley, the former boss of Barclays, in 2017. Varley denied the charges and was subsequently acquitted.
Since Alexander stepped down, the gambling group has run through three CEOs and has struggled with a languishing share price compared to peers.
Entain is currently led by Stella David, who stepped into the CEO role earlier this year after the departure of Gavin Isaacs, who left the company abruptly in February after only five months.
Isaacs took up the role after the departure of Jette Nygaard-Andersen, who had come under fire from investors after spending £2bn on acquisitions. None of Alexander’s successors are accused of wrongdoing by prosecutors.
Entain said it “has not been charged and none of the individuals charged are currently employed by the company or its group”, adding it had no further comment as the case is the subject of ongoing criminal proceedings and reporting restrictions.
The first hearing in the case is due to take place at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on October 6.
Matthew Frankland, a solicitor for Alexander, said: “We have been engaged with [this] for almost six years now and have sought to demonstrate why there is no proper basis to charge our client. However, they have now taken a view [but] it will be vigorously defended.”
A lawyer for Feldman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Among those also charged were the company’s former finance chief Richard Cooper, 64, and James Humberstone, 52, another former director.
Also charged with the same offences are Robert Douglas Edwin Dowling, 50, from Horsham, West Sussex; Raymond Matthew Smart, 59, of Guernsey; and Richard Anthony Raubitschek-Smith, 49, of Harpenden, Hertfordshire.
Scott William Masterton, 56, of Tetney, Grimsby, is additionally charged with fraudulent trading, cheating the public revenue and acting as a director of a company when undischarged bankrupt. Caroline Patricia Roe, 48, Staincross, Barnsley, is additionally charged with fraudulent trading and fraudulent evasion of income tax.
Alexander MacAngus, 64, of Jersey, is charged with conspiracy to defraud and former legal director Robert Grant Hoskin, 54, of Gibraltar, is charged with perverting the course of justice in February 2024.
The CPS declined to provide solicitor details for the individuals.
Hannah von Dadelszen, chief crown prosecutor at the CPS, said prosecutors had worked closely with HM Revenue & Customs in the investigation.
Richard Las, director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said in a statement: “These are serious charges that relate to conspiracy to defraud, bribery, cheating the public revenue, evasion of income tax and perverting the course of justice among others.”