Hacker Behind Curaçao ‘Casino Secrets’ Leak Wins MGA Court Battle

Key Points

  • Lilith Wittmann says a Berlin court allows her to use MGA documents obtained through unauthorized access to its systems
  • The ruling permits Wittmann’s “organized crime enablement scheme” characterization but bars her from accessing the MGA’s systems again
  • Wittmann’s Curaçao Casino Secrets database was knocked offline the same day before reappearing hours later under a new domain

A German activist and hacker who breached the systems of the gaming authorities of Malta and Curaçao said Friday (September 25) that a new court judgment allows her to use documents she obtained from the Malta hack.

Lilith Wittmann, Curaçao Gaming Authority, Curaçao casino leak, online casino ownership, Casino Secrets
In the same week that white-hat hacker Lilith Wittmann, above, published a trove of documents obtained from Curaçao’s gambling regulator, she won a key court ruling in her legal battle with its Maltese counterpart. (Image: Lilith Wittmann/X)

Lilith Wittmann told followers on X that the Berlin Regional Court II ruling also allows her to continue describing the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) as an “organized crime enablement scheme,” although it prohibits her from accessing the regulator’s systems again.

The MGA and its CEO, Charles Mizzi, took legal action against Wittmann after she announced she had gained access to its systems in March and shared data she obtained with media partners and authorities.

“And yes, we will expose the organised crime enablement schemes you created while presenting yourselves as a ‘legitimate public service,’” she claimed at the time.

‘Organized Crime’ Claim

The MGA and Mizzi sought an injunction in Germany, initially securing an order against Wittmann. She challenged it and has characterized the litigation as a SLAPP — a strategic lawsuit against public participation.

The latest ruling does not establish that the MGA enables organized crime. Wittmann said during a September 10 hearing that the judge considered her statements on the subject permissible expressions of opinion rather than false statements of fact.

Wittmann said the dispute ultimately generated around 2,000 pages of court documents and cost her between €15,000 and €20,000 in legal and court fees.

Casino Secrets Knocked Offline

The judgment came during an extraordinary week for Wittmann, who days earlier published a trove of more than 40,000 documents obtained from the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) as part of her “Casino Secrets” investigation.

On the same day she announced the Berlin ruling, the website hosting the searchable Curaçao database was knocked offline.

Registry records showed casinosecrets.lol had been placed on “server hold,” preventing the domain from resolving. Wittmann said domain registry operator XYZ had deplatformed the site before Cloudflare could act.

But the archive was back online within hours after Wittmann moved it to another domain, curacaofiles.com, where it remains publicly accessible.

It contains thousands of documents from operators’ license applications, including UBO and ownership information, corporate structures, source-of-wealth and funding documents, business plans, due-diligence material, and the CGA’s internal reviews and licensing conditions.

Wittmann had said earlier Friday that the unresolved MGA litigation made publishing her latest Casino Secrets reporting legally risky, claiming an adverse ruling could potentially have exposed her to penalties of up to €250,000 or six months’ detention for violating an injunction.

The MGA has not publicly commented on the Berlin judgment.

Wittmann has previously exposed flaws in Germany’s gambling regulatory systems and vulnerabilities in public-sector IT. Her investigations have included security weaknesses in political and government systems, as well as extensive reporting on the international online gambling industry.

Philip Conneller
Philip Conneller Senior Reporter

In Philip Conneller’s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation.

Philip was the original features editor for poker’s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites.

His news stories for Casino.org/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others.

Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John’s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic.

He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist.

Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC.

Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.

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