{"id":166587,"date":"2021-03-08T12:20:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T20:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=166587"},"modified":"2021-03-08T14:29:46","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T22:29:46","slug":"malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Charged, Tied to Casino Owner in Journalist Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) CEO Heathcliff Farrugia was quietly charged with corruption in January. The nation\u2019s chief gaming regulator is accused of trading in influence with Yorgen Fenech<\/a>, the casino owner and businessman suspected of ordering a hit on journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.<\/p>\n

\"Heathcliff
Heathcliff Farrugia, pictured above, is accused of supplying Yorgen Fenech with sensitive information about competitors in the casino industry. (Image: Malta Gaming Authority)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Times of Malta<\/em> has discovered that the charges against Farrugia were hushed up to avoid tarnishing the reputation of the country\u2019s gaming industry. Malta is one of the world\u2019s foremost online gambling licensing hubs.<\/p>\n

According to the Times<\/em>, police uncovered incriminating conversations between Fenech and Farrugia when they examined Fenech\u2019s phone during their investigation into Galizia\u2019s murder. The crusading\u00a0 journalist was killed by a car bomb in 2017, possibly for alleging a government contract to build a power station had been corruptly awarded to Fenech\u2019s company in 2014.<\/p>\n

Insider Info <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Police sources told the<\/em> Times<\/em> that Farrugia provided commercially sensitive information concerning rival casino operators to Fenech. They also discussed an anti-money laundering investigation that was being carried out on Fenech’s Portomaso Casino. It is not clear whether Farrugia is accused of accepting kickbacks for supplying this information.<\/p>\n

Farrugia resigned from the MGA in October, which is around the time that Maltese police began their investigation, according to Times<\/em> sources.<\/p>\n

\n

The Galizia affair has rocked Maltese politics. Fenech\u2019s ties to the highest echelons of Malta\u2019s government brought down the administration of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. He was forced to resign in the wake of the casino owner\u2019s arrest.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Three men, Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat have been charged with planting the bomb that killed Galizia, while Fenech is accused of masterminding the plot. A so-called middleman, Melvin Theuma, has been pardoned for testifying against the others.<\/p>\n

Mafia Infiltrated<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Malta\u2019s gaming sector is responsible for some 12 percent of its GDP and hosts some of the biggest brand names in the industry. But parts of it have been infiltrated by the Mafia.<\/a> Last Wednesday, Italian authorities seized over \u20ac80 million ($95.8 million) in assets and announced restriction orders against 23 people in relation to the management of the website RaiseBet24.com.<\/p>\n

Police allege the site had links to Sicily\u2019s Cosa Nostra and had been targeting Italy illegally from servers based in Malta.<\/p>\n

The MGA has been criticized for failing to sufficiently vet its licensees. In 2015, the red-faced regulator was forced to revoke the licenses of nine online gambling companies. These included BetUniq, whose CEO, Mario Gennaro, was described by Italian prosecutors as the \u201cpoint man\u201d for the Calabrian Mafia in Malta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) CEO Heathcliff Farrugia was quietly charged with corruption in January. The nation\u2019s chief gaming regulator is accused of trading in influence with Yorgen Fenech, the casino owner and businessman suspected of ordering a hit on journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Times of Malta has discovered that the charges against Farrugia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":166592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMalta Chief Gaming Regulator Heathcliff Farrugia Charged With Corruption<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Heathcliff Farrugia, former CEO of MGA, charged with corruption over relationship with Daphne Caruana Galizia accused, Yorgen Fenech.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Heathcliff Farrugia Charged With Corruption\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Heathcliff Farrugia, former CEO of MGA, charged with corruption over relationship with Daphne Caruana Galizia accused, Yorgen Fenech.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-08T20:20:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-08T22:29:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/\",\"name\":\"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Heathcliff Farrugia Charged With Corruption\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-08T20:20:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-08T22:29:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Heathcliff Farrugia, former CEO of MGA, charged with corruption over relationship with Daphne Caruana Galizia accused, Yorgen Fenech.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1067,\"caption\":\"As MGA chief Heathcliffe Farrugia, above, was in charge of one of the world\u2019s foremost online gaming hubs. But his relationship with Caruana Galizia murder suspect, Jorgen Fenech, was a little too cozy. . (Image: Malta Gaming Authority)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crime & Scandals\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Charged, Tied to Casino Owner in Journalist Murder\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Heathcliff Farrugia Charged With Corruption","description":"Heathcliff Farrugia, former CEO of MGA, charged with corruption over relationship with Daphne Caruana Galizia accused, Yorgen Fenech.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Heathcliff Farrugia Charged With Corruption","og_description":"Heathcliff Farrugia, former CEO of MGA, charged with corruption over relationship with Daphne Caruana Galizia accused, Yorgen Fenech.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-03-08T20:20:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-08T22:29:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1067,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/","name":"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Heathcliff Farrugia Charged With Corruption","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-08T20:20:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-08T22:29:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Heathcliff Farrugia, former CEO of MGA, charged with corruption over relationship with Daphne Caruana Galizia accused, Yorgen Fenech.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heathcliff-Farrugia.jpg","width":1600,"height":1067,"caption":"As MGA chief Heathcliffe Farrugia, above, was in charge of one of the world\u2019s foremost online gaming hubs. But his relationship with Caruana Galizia murder suspect, Jorgen Fenech, was a little too cozy. . (Image: Malta Gaming Authority)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/malta-chief-gaming-regulator-heathcliff-farrugia-charged-with-corruption\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crime & Scandals","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Malta Chief Gaming Regulator Charged, Tied to Casino Owner in Journalist Murder"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}