More people in trouble
After already identifying two employees for allegedly embezzling over $280,000 from sports betting kiosks, William Hill has found additional suspects. It now appears that at least another two people were part of the scheme.
spotted on surveillance footage at multiple casinos withdrawing money from betting kiosks
Anthony Cuddeback and Persha Stanley were both charged this week with numerous offenses related to the withdrawal of fraudulent cash adjustments. They allegedly have links to former William Hill supervisor Shravan Singh, who appears to have headed up the illegal scheme. The pair were spotted on surveillance footage at multiple casinos withdrawing money from betting kiosks, with the transactions authorized by Singh.
It is unclear as to what sort of penalties each of the accused will face; it also is unknown if any more people also played a role in the embezzlement scheme.
Flying under the radar
State investigators discovered that Singh had approved a lot of sports betting kiosk cash adjustments for amounts larger than $500. He could hide these transactions for a while by delaying their reporting, altering the records, or simply not reporting them at all. Eventually, he was found to have facilitated over 3,000 fraudulent transactions over a 16-month period. William Hill initially did not expect the embezzled sum to be anywhere as high as $280,000.
helped load the money onto the operator’s retail betting kiosks in Nevada
The other employee linked to the scheme is Paige Steiner. She was a customer service agent who allegedly helped load the money onto the operator’s retail betting kiosks in Nevada. Co-conspirators would then print the altered kiosk vouchers and cash them out.
Identifying the irregularities
An internal audit initially triggered suspicions at William Hill. The company had already been investigating three other employees who allegedly ran their own scheme to embezzle almost $72,000 before becoming suspicious of Singh.
William Hill officials notified the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) of the irregularities and the NGC began its own investigation in December. Investigators were able to monitor Singh’s computer activity, showing how he helped his co-conspirators redeem vouchers at kiosks in Nevada.
Cameras at the kiosks took images of the culprits, which helped in their identification. None of them had any significant betting history, so investigators concluded that they were in on the scheme.
