An arrest warrant has been issued for Karel Manasco, the former CEO of Mansion Group after he didn’t show up for a sentencing hearing in Gibraltar.
Manasco was due to be sentenced on April 9 for contempt of court. According to GBC News, the 44-year-old is accused of embezzling around £5 million ($6.6 million) from the company.
After the accusations came to light, a worldwide freezing order was slapped on Manasco in March 2023. But despite that, he broke the terms of the order multiple times.
Gibraltar accountant Karel Manasco is facing a "custodial sentence" after being found in contempt of court for breaching an asset freeze order and lying in a witness statement in legal proceedings brought by his former employer, online gaming … https://t.co/2N5zGE2HaP
— OffshoreAlert (@OffshoreAlert) March 15, 2025
Manasco was found in contempt of court for repeatedly violating that freezing order, and he was supposed to be sentenced this week.
He was originally set to appear for sentencing on Wednesday morning; however, he failed to show up.
Manasco’s representative argued that Chief Justice Dudley, who’s overseeing the case, has been biased from the start. He also accused the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) of putting out slanted coverage and went even further, claiming that Mansion Group and the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority (GRA) teamed up against him.
Manasco has also accused the Mansion Group, Gibraltar-based law firm Isolas, former minister Albert Isola, and the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority of working together to target him. He says it’s all retaliation for whistleblowing on what he alleges were “illegal activities” within Mansion Group.
He then attempted to get Justice Dudley to recuse himself from the case, arguing bias. However, according to GBC, the judge dismissed the order, saying stepping aside might be “the easy option,” but it wouldn’t be the right one.
Justice Dudley wrote in his order: “[Karel Manasco] should be aware that breaches such as those committed by him will normally attract an immediate custodial sentence.”
Embezzlement charges faced by Karel Manasco
The embezzlement charges against Manasco are tied to a series of payments totaling €2.5 million ($2.8 million) that were made to a company called White Wizard Media (WWML). These payments, covering 14 invoices between August 2018 and June 2019, raised serious red flags, along with a separate £127,073 ($167,848) payment to a consultancy firm that’s also under scrutiny.
According to Mansion Group, WWML never actually provided any services. Instead, they claim the money was funneled into offshore accounts controlled by Manasco. In February 2024, the court froze £5 million of his assets after hearing that he’d allegedly awarded himself unauthorized bonuses.
Then in September 2024, the Supreme Court ordered Manasco to pay back both the €2.5 million and the £127,073. The contempt of court charge came from him allegedly breaching that asset freeze order multiple times. He was supposed to be sentenced for contempt this week, but didn’t show up for the hearing. The sentencing has been pushed to May 14.
As for Mansion Group, it was once a major international player, especially in the United Kingdom, where it operated sports betting and online casino platforms under Gambling Commission licenses.
However, in 2020, Mansion shut down its sports betting arm, MansionBet, following internal management issues and a Gambling Commission probe into its European operations, including Mansion Europe and M88.
By January 2023, the company had pulled the plug on all its UK-facing brands, including Casino.com, MansionCasino.com, and SlotsHeaven.com. It kept operating in Spain and Ontario for a bit longer, but by October 2023, Mansion had exited the B2C space entirely.
ReadWrite has reached out to Karel Manasco’s legal representatives and is awaiting comment.
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