{"id":248573,"date":"2022-12-19T08:14:24","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T14:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=248573"},"modified":"2022-12-19T12:27:37","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T18:27:37","slug":"murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"Murdered Casino Boss Ran Gambling, Money Laundering Network Via Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkish police investigating the murder of Northern Cypriot casino owner and crime boss Halil Falyal\u0131<\/a> have uncovered 15 Malta-based betting sites linked to the deceased\u2019s criminal network.<\/p>\n

\"Halil
Cypriot crime lord Halil Falyal\u0131, above, was assassinated by gangsters the S\u00f6ylemez Brothers in February 2022 for reasons unknown. (Image: Bianet)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The websites illegally offered betting to Turkish citizens and laundered money through a Malta-based crypto exchange, authorities said. Some 11 companies were involved in transferring the proceeds of the gambling sites to numerous cryptocurrency sites controlled by Falyal\u0131\u2019s organization.<\/p>\n

The Turkish prosecutor\u2019s office seized some US$30 million from crypto accounts in Malta. Those\u00a0 directly belonged to Falyal\u0131 and his wife, and they confiscated an additional $40 million of crypto assets by court order.<\/p>\n

Hail of Bullets <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Malta is Europe\u2019s primary online gambling hub. But the jurisdiction has been embarrassed by the repeated exposure<\/a> of some of its licensees\u2019 murky links to organized crime.<\/p>\n

Turkish authorities said last week 101 individuals had been detained for their links to Falyal\u0131\u2019s money laundering ring, including members of his family.<\/p>\n

\n

Falyal\u0131 owned the five-star Les Ambassadeurs Hotel & Casino in Northern Cyprus. He died in a hail of bullets in February 2020 after his motorcade was ambushed by men wielding Kalashnikovs as it entered the village of \u00c7atalk\u00f6y.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The killing was witnessed by Falyal\u0131\u2019s wife and children, who were traveling in a different vehicle and were unhurt. His driver, Murat Demirta\u015f, was also killed in the attack.<\/p>\n

Six individuals have since been indicted for the killing, including brothers Faysal and Mustafa S\u00f6ylemez<\/a>, two notorious Turkish gang bosses. They are currently on trial and face life sentences for planning and organizing the assassination.<\/p>\n

Helicopters and Flamethrowers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Thirty years ago, the S\u00f6ylemez Brothers fought a brutal war for the control of arms and drug trafficking in eastern Turkey via a campaign of kidnap and murder.<\/p>\n

One on occasion, authorities disrupted a plot that involved the gang attacking a rival politician from a helicopter using flamethrowers, according to court documents.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The motive for Falyal\u0131\u2019s murder remains unclear.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the US government accused the casino owner\u00a0of operating in a narcotic trafficking operation that flooded the UK with heroin. A year later, the DOJ charged him with laundering the proceeds of drug sales on American soil.<\/p>\n

Falyal\u0131 never faced justice because the US and the UK don’t have extradition treaties with Northern Cyprus, which they don’t recognize as an independent state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkish police investigating the murder of Northern Cypriot casino owner and crime boss Halil Falyal\u0131 have uncovered 15 Malta-based betting sites linked to the deceased\u2019s criminal network. The websites illegally offered betting to Turkish citizens and laundered money through a Malta-based crypto exchange, authorities said. Some 11 companies were involved in transferring the proceeds of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":248575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[84156],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMurdered Cypriot Casino Boss Ran Money Laundering Network Via Malta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Halil Falyal\u0131, Cypriot casino owner and crime boss assassinated in February, operated online gambling and money laundering in Malta.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Murdered Cypriot Casino Boss Ran Money Laundering Network Via Malta\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Halil Falyal\u0131, Cypriot casino owner and crime boss assassinated in February, operated online gambling and money laundering in Malta.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/\" \/>\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=\"2022-12-19T14:14:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-19T18:27:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Halil-Falyal\u0131.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1020\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\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\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/\",\"name\":\"Murdered Cypriot Casino Boss Ran Money Laundering Network Via Malta\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Halil-Falyal\u0131.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-19T14:14:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-19T18:27:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Halil Falyal\u0131, Cypriot casino owner and crime boss assassinated in February, operated online gambling and money laundering in Malta.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/murdered-cypriot-crime-boss-ran-money-laundering-network-via-malta\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Halil-Falyal\u0131.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Halil-Falyal\u0131.jpg\",\"width\":1020,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"Cypriot crime lord Halil Falyal\u0131, above, was assassinated by gangsters the S\u00f6ylemez Brothers in February 2022 for reasons unknown. 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