Media Release

A Global Money Laundering Operation Disguised as Crypto Gambling

Stake.com’s empire is not the story of a tech entrepreneur—it is the story of financial crime repackaged as digital innovation.

MetafiYielders, Stake.com, and Roobet: A Global Financial Crime Network

An extensive three-year investigation has uncovered that Ed Craven, the billionaire co-founder of Stake.com, has profited directly from a financial crime network that spans multiple offshore jurisdictions, laundering illicit funds under the guise of online gambling and fraudulent investment schemes like MetafiYielders.

MetafiYielders, a High-Yield Investment Program (HYIP) Ponzi scheme, defrauded investors of over $90 million USD before its collapse. The scheme falsely promised daily returns of up to 4.2%, drawing in victims worldwide. Stolen funds from MetafiYielders were funneled through Stake.com’s financial infrastructure, disguised as gambling transactions, effectively laundering illicit proceeds.

Stake.com and Roobet, two of the world’s largest crypto gambling platforms, are directly linked through a hidden corporate web operated by Xecutive Corporate Management (XCM), the directors behind both Stake and Roobet’s Curaçao-registered companies and their Cyprus-based payment processing firms. XCM, which also managed MetafiYielders' financial operations, served as the central hub that connected these fraudulent enterprises, providing the mechanisms necessary to obscure financial trails and evade regulatory scrutiny.

While Craven’s lavish lifestyle and high-profile sponsorship deals have helped Stake project an image of legitimacy, the reality is far darker: Stake.com is at the centre of an international laundering network that profits off regulatory loopholes, fraudulent investment schemes like MetafiYielders, and financial crime.

Stake and RooBet Laundering Network

Associated Entities

Key Findings from the Investigation

Ed Craven’s Role: Profiting from Organised Financial Crime

  • Ed Craven is the ultimate financial beneficiary of Stake.com’s unregulated gambling operations, reaping billions from an offshore empire designed to obscure the true flow of funds.

  • Through Stake’s Curaçao and Cyprus financial structures, Craven has been able to extract wealth generated from illegal sources, including funds linked to fraudulent investment schemes and untraceable crypto transactions.

  • His financial success is built on enabling criminals to launder money through Stake’s platform, with virtually no oversight.

XCM: The Hidden Hand Behind Stake & Roobet’s Offshore Operations

  • Operating from Willemstad, Curaçao, Xecutive Corporate Management (XCM) acts as the true control layer behind both Stake.com and Roobet’s offshore operations.

  • XCM are the legal directors of both Stake.com and Roobet’s Curaçao-based gambling companies.

  • XCM also controls the Cyprus-based payment processing entities used by both casinos, enabling unrestricted movement of funds between high-risk jurisdictions.

  • By managing these key financial structures, XCM shields Craven and other stakeholders from direct accountability while allowing billions in crypto to circulate without detection.

Money Laundering Through Crypto Gambling

  • Stake.com and Roobet have processed transactions linked to known fraudulent schemes, including crypto Ponzi schemes and high-yield investment scams. Their offshore payment networks in Cyprus and Curaçao enable illicit funds to flow freely, evading traditional anti-money laundering (AML) controls.

Sponsorships: A Front for Legitimacy

  • To distract from its questionable financial activities, Stake.com has secured high-profile sponsorships, including:
    Official Betting Partner of the UFC
    Sponsor of English Premier League club Everton FC
    Sponsorships with F1 teams, boxing events, and esports organisations

  • These sponsorships give the illusion of legitimacy, while Stake.com and Roobet’s actual business model relies on offshore structures designed to protect illicit financial flows.

XCM’s Role in Silencing Investigators & Political Figures

  • XCM has also been linked to intimidation tactics against investigative journalists and politicians. The company has issued legal threats on behalf of its clients to suppress investigations into its activities.

    Dutch MP Ronald van Raak, who has long exposed corruption in Curaçao’s gambling sector, was targeted by one of XCM’s managed entities, mBet Solutions, in a blatant attempt to suppress public scrutiny.

Despite Regulatory Warnings, XCM, Stake, and Roobet Continue to Operate Freely

  • While XCM, Stake, and Roobet claim compliance with Curaçao’s gambling laws and Cyprus’s financial regulations, the reality is that:

  • Curaçao’s sub-license system is widely abused, allowing fraudulent gambling operators to function with near-total impunity.

  • Cyprus-based payment processors linked to XCM have facilitated transactions from unregulated casinos, disguising their true origins.

  • Despite receiving warnings and fines from Dutch authorities, XCM continues to operate in a legal grey zone, shielding Stake and Roobet from direct accountability.

CHRISTOPHER VAN ROSBERG - CEO XCM

Stake.com’s empire is not the story of a tech entrepreneur—it is the story of financial crime repackaged as digital innovation.

Konstantina Michailidou

The Hidden Fiduciary Behind Stake, Roobet, and MetafiYielders

Konstantina Michailidou has long operated in the background as a corporate services provider, using offshore jurisdictions to shield the financial activities of high-risk gambling and investment schemes. As a key fiduciary behind Stake.com and Roobet, she has played a direct role in managing corporate structures and financial pathways designed to obscure the true operators of these enterprises. Her involvement extends beyond these crypto gambling platforms—she has now been uncovered as a crucial figure behind MetafiYielders, a fraudulent HYIP scheme that stole over $90 million USD from investors.

While Konstantina Michailidou presents herself as a business professional, the reality is that:

  • She is a key fiduciary for Stake.com and Roobet, overseeing corporate structures and financial operations linked to both crypto gambling platforms.

  • She was exposed as a central figure behind MetafiYielders, managing financial channels that facilitated the Ponzi scheme’s operations and eventual laundering of stolen funds.

  • Through her fiduciary role, she enabled MetafiYielders to operate under the facade of a legitimate investment platform while siphoning tens of millions from unsuspecting investors.

  • She was directly involved in structuring the offshore entities and payment processing networks that linked MetafiYielders to Stake.com’s financial infrastructure, allowing illicit funds to be funneled through gambling transactions.

  • Her oversight of Cyprus-based payment processors allowed stolen MetafiYielders funds to be cycled through Stake.com, disguised as "casino winnings," a method commonly used in money laundering.

  • Despite her involvement in multiple high-risk financial schemes, she continues to manage corporate structures in Curaçao and Cyprus, taking advantage of lax regulatory enforcement to avoid accountability.

Her role in facilitating fraudulent investment schemes, laundering stolen funds, and operating within Stake and Roobet’s financial network demonstrates how offshore fiduciaries can be used to enable and protect financial crime. The links between Konstantina Michailidou, MetafiYielders, Stake.com, and Roobet provide further evidence that these platforms are not simply crypto gambling businesses but part of a sophisticated financial crime network designed to exploit unregulated jurisdictions for illicit gain.

Ed Craven: A Billionaire Built on Financial Crimes

Craven’s inclusion on The Australian Financial Review’s Rich List ($4.5 billion, a 45% increase in a single year) is proof that profits from unregulated online gambling and financial crime have made him one of Australia’s wealthiest individuals.

Yet, the “self-made” myth surrounding Craven’s fortune ignores his direct financial lineage to corporate fraud:

  • His father, Jamie Craven, was a senior finance executive banned from the industry for five years and jailed for six months for his role in the collapse of Spedley Securities in the 1980s.

  • Just as his father exploited financial loopholes, Ed Craven has leveraged crypto gambling and offshore corporate structures to extract billions in illicit funds.

The Path Forward: Full Legal & Regulatory Action

Given Stake.com’s refusal to engage in good-faith settlement discussions, we are now moving forward with formal submissions to AUSTRAC, ASIC, and international financial crime enforcement agencies.

Our next steps include:
1. Filing official complaints with AUSTRAC & ASIC to trigger financial crime investigations.
2. Engaging with global regulatory bodies to freeze illicit transactions linked to Stake’s payment processors.
3. Publicly exposing Stake.com’s business practices to hold those responsible accountable.

"Stake.com’s empire has been built on a foundation of deception, unregulated gambling, and financial misconduct. This is no longer just a case of reckless corporate behaviour—this is organised financial crime at an international scale," said Anthony McNamara, CEO of 5 Sided Square Pty Ltd.

We call upon regulators, financial institutions, and the public to demand greater accountability for crypto-based gambling enterprises, and ensure that Stake.com and Roobet are held to the same legal and ethical standards as any other financial institution.

Media Inquiry & Further Information

For interviews, further details, or evidence from our investigation, please contact:

media@5sidedsquare.com