Polish authorities are looking into Turkish online betting entrepreneur Fedlan Kılıçaslan and related entities in a money-laundering investigation, according to a spokesperson for the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office. The spokesperson would not say whether Kılıçaslan is formally a suspect or provide more detail, citing the ongoing inquiry.
OCCRP reported that Kılıçaslan’s Poland-registered IT company provided telemarketing for blacklisted online gambling sites. It also said his Warsaw-based firm, FAF Global Company, renamed Oliwka Covenant Technologies in May, promoted MeritKing and other banned gambling sites to Turkish-speaking clients.
An anonymous former FAF Global employee told the outlet the firm was used to promote MeritKing, MadridBet and KingRoyal. The former employee said that when Turkish authorities blocked a domain, a new one with a similar name was immediately created.
The same source said customers were alerted to mirror-domain changes by SMS and through Telegram and WhatsApp. OCCRP reported that the banned sites added increasing numbers to their mirror domains over time.
A review of blocked betting sites found more than 100 variants of MadridBet and MeritKing banned between 2018 and 2023. Turkey banned MadridBet10.com in 2018, and by 2023 authorities had banned MadridBet569.com; internal messages reviewed by reporters showed the MadridBet numbering had reached at least 940.
Under Polish law, it is illegal to promote or advertise gambling without a licence, and violations can lead to a fine. Dominika Bura, a Warsaw lawyer specialising in gambling law, said outbound calls aimed at acquiring or retaining users for brands such as MeritKing or KingRoyal could amount to a potential breach of the Fiscal Penal Code.
A Polish law-enforcement official told OCCRP that bank accounts belonging to Kılıçaslan and FAF Global had been blocked in connection with the money-laundering investigation. That is the clearest sign so far that the Polish probe has moved from reporting to direct enforcement.
Kılıçaslan has faced parallel pressure in Turkey. In November 2025, Istanbul prosecutors announced a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of facilitating and advertising illegal betting and gambling operations, and OCCRP said that announcement triggered an Interpol Red Notice.
A Turkish report later said authorities issued red notices for Kılıçaslan and former footballer Batuhan Karadeniz and ordered asset seizures on suspicion of money laundering. Prosecutors also said Kılıçaslan was suspected of providing “place and opportunity” for illegal betting through internet sites and of laundering assets derived from criminal activity.
By March 24, Kılıçaslan had been arrested in Barcelona on two sexual assault charges, and Spanish authorities informed the Turkish consulate and confiscated his passport. He was also barred from leaving Spain.
The MeritKing brand has also surfaced in a separate domain dispute. A WIPO decision on
When the WIPO panel visited the site from Türkiye on July 9, 2025, it did not resolve to an active website, although it was active from elsewhere. The complaint had been filed on May 15, 2025, and proceedings began on May 26.
The ownership trail around the gambling sites remains murky. The Merit King and King Royal websites say their domains are owned and managed by Exelogix, a company registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, but its owner is unknown.
A former Exelogix employee who spoke to Frontstory.pl said he also did not know who runs the company and that managers used pseudonyms, referring to the head as “the boss”. OCCRP also reported that two of the gambling sites were licensed in Comoros and on Anjouan, licences that EU regulators do not recognise.
For a broader sense of the enforcement environment, Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau said it had disrupted an organised crime group suspected of illegal gambling, detained 37 suspects and traced more than PLN 50 million in alleged laundering. The agency said the investigation suggested the group could have been operating since at least 2018.
