WILLEMSTAD – A detailed international investigation has revealed that several Curaçao-registered companies played central roles in a complex corporate web engineered by the iGaming conglomerate SoftSwiss to obscure ownership, migrate assets, and maintain access to unregulated markets.
The findings are presented in “The SoftSwiss Papers – Part I,” published December 11, 2025. The report maps a system of shell entities, nominee directors, payment processors and crypto-exchange tools that, according to investigators, enabled SoftSwiss to shift operations between legal identities while continuing business uninterrupted.
Curaçao at the Heart of the Structure
The investigation highlights several Curaçao companies:
- SoftSwiss N.V., later renamed Direx N.V.
- Dama N.V., formed as Direx’s successor
- Orakum N.V., connected to internationally notorious 1xBet-linked gambling brands
- Hollycorn N.V., part of the same economic group
These entities, investigators say, served as operational arms of SoftSwiss, even though the company long presented itself as a neutral technology vendor.
Page 3: Evidence Linking Early Curaçao Casinos to SoftSwiss
Historical operator disclosures from 2014 (shown in text on page 3) state that various casinos—Anonymous Casino, BitStarz, 7BitCasino—were “operated by SoftSwiss N.V.” and owned through Nabelse Holdings Ltd, a Cyprus company controlled by founder Ivan Montik.
This contradicts SoftSwiss’s public claim that these casinos were owned by independent operators.
A Strategic Rebrand to Avoid Scrutiny
In 2016, SoftSwiss renamed its Curaçao entity to Direx N.V., a change documented in local corporate filings. The report says this was a deliberate attempt to clean the SoftSwiss brand as the company sought more regulated clients in Europe.
The Trafimovich Connection
One of the most revealing findings is that SoftSwiss Chief Commercial Officer Maksim Trafimovich personally acted as the liquidator of Direx N.V., directly managing the wind-down of what SoftSwiss publicly claimed was an independent operator.
The report states that this alone “collapses the independence myth.”
Asset Migration Into Dama N.V.
When Direx N.V. was dissolved, its casino brands, affiliate agreements, and databases were transferred into Dama N.V. (Reg. 152125), also based in Curaçao.
The new company retained the same infrastructure, branding, and operational footprints—indicating continuity rather than separation.
Page 7: Links to Sanctioned and Criminal Networks
A diagram and text on page 7 explain how Curaçao-based Orakum N.V. operates brands tied to the Russian 1xBet syndicate, whose founders are international fugitives.
The report also notes that Marikit Holdings Ltd, owner of Megapari, was sanctioned by Ukraine for 50 years—yet continued using SoftSwiss platform services and CoinsPaid payment processing.
Crypto Infrastructure Used to Avoid Oversight
CoinsPaid (legal entity Dream Finance OÜ in Estonia) and Merkeleon software were allegedly used to process and obscure high-risk gambling payments. Both were shown to be controlled by SoftSwiss executives, according to page 4–6 of the report.
Legal Filing Exposes the Entire Group
In a 2025 WIPO complaint (page 6), SoftSwiss, Hollycorn N.V., CoinsPaid, and CFO Pavel Kashuba jointly declared themselves part of “the same overarching group.”
Investigators call this a decisive legal admission contradicting years of public statements.
Implications for Curaçao
The report raises questions about Curaçao’s licensing supervision and potential exposure to:
- sanctions-evasion liability
- money laundering risks
- fraudulent corporate restructurings connected to global gambling markets
Authorities have not yet responded to the findings, but industry observers expect pressure for regulatory reforms to intensify.
Source: The SoftSwiss Papers by João Mar, Lead Forensic Investigator GAMRS LTD (a company owned by Deal Me Out CIC)