• Source:PTI
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Lottery King Santiago Martin:  The Supreme Court on Wednesday put a stay on the proceedings before a special court in a money laundering case against Santiago Martin, who is known as the "lottery king". A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan issued a notice on an appeal filed by Martin challenging the March 16 order of a Special PMLA Court in Kerala's Ernakulam dismissing his petition seeking to put the trial in the money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on hold.

Senior advocate Aditya Sondhi and advocate Rohini Musa, who appeared for Martin, stated that the special court should have considered that the trial in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case can only begin after the conclusion of the trial in the predicate case. On March 16, the special court dismissed Martin's application seeking to keep the trial in the ED case on hold until the conclusion of the trial in the predicate offense, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case connected to an alleged lottery scam.

In his plea before the top court, Martin said that the chargesheet filed by the CBI is the predicate case based on which the ED registered a money laundering case against him and others. Referring to the 2022 verdict in the Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary case, he said that proceedings under the PMLA cannot be continued once there is an acquittal or discharge in the predicate case.

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Earlier, last month Santiago was in the news as his company 'Future Gaming and Hotel Services' emerged as the biggest donor to political parties through electoral bonds. The company donated around 13,00 crore via electoral bonds between 2019 to 2024, as per data released by the election commission. 

(With PTI Inputs)

Who is Santiago Martin?

According to his LinkedIn profile, Santiago Martin was born into a humble family and began participating in the lottery business at the age of 13, which eventually laid the foundation for his empire. From his humble beginnings to his current position as 'Lottery King', Martin's journey has been full of ups and downs.

According to their profile on the professional networking site, the company has seen an average annual growth of 109%, with a workforce of more than 1,000 dedicated employees and more than 260 of the stockiest professionals in all lottery-playing states. In addition to the lottery business, his interests extend to real estate, construction, alternative energy, visual media entertainment, textiles and yarn, hospitality, healthcare and education, software and technology, property development, agriculture, and construction materials.

Future Gaming & Hotel Services operates gaming facilities including casinos, electronic gaming centers, and other types of gaming establishments. It offers a wide variety of games like slot machines, card games, and other electronic gaming options.

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