Online gambling operator embroiled in Costa Rica bank account closures

Local media reports from Costa Rica have associated 5Dimes online gambling manager Marisol Carvajal Cordero (35) with a bank ‘source of funds’ investigation which saw the closure of the company’s accounts at the Banco de Costa Rica late last year.

The bank advised at the time that the closure had been imposed because it had been unable to verify the source of the considerable funds – $1.53 billion – paid in to the accounts in 2014.

Transactions with companies in Malta and Dubai through US, UK, German, Panamanian, Peruvian and Spanish banks involved the online casino manager in both her 5Dimes and Red Planet executive roles, the reports claim, with the bank indicating it had liaised with management but had not been able to verify the source of the funds to its satisfaction.

The banks action was disputed by major shareholder and lawyer Manfred Pino this week, who said the closures were prompted by a personal feud involving a person associated with the accounts and the bank’s president, Paola Mora Tumminelli.

He alleged that Mora suspected that the person involved had lodged a conflict of interest complaint against her on another issue, and that the closures were made in revenge.

Pino also alleges that he was given only 72 hours to produce documentation verifying the source of the funds and had been unable to meet the demand from the bank before it unilaterally closed the accounts.

The matter has not yet attracted sufficient interest from Costa Rica government authorities for police involvement, although government is likely sensitive to the possible money laundering implications following February’s announcement that Costa Rica was being investigated as one of the nations in which Western Union transactions are being examined by US officials.

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