F&O Frenzy: Gameskraft Ex-CFO Allegedly Siphoned Rs 200 Crore For Personal Derivatives Trading
The fund diversion came to light only after Prabhu's voluntary admission via email, after which the company conducted an internal review and discovered the full extent of the alleged fraud.
The former chief financial officer of already-beleaguered gaming firm Gameskraft Technologies Ltd. allegedly siphoned off company funds worth over Rs 200 crore for his personal derivatives trading, an FIR showed.
Between fiscals 2020 and 2025, then CFO Ramesh Prabhu allegedly transferred Rs 231 crore from Gameskraft's accounts into a personal bank account at RBL Bank. Instead of investing on behalf of the company, he used the money to trade in equity futures and options, a first information report reviewed by NDTV Profit showed.
Prabhu used his position, which granted him sole access to the company's bank account, to systematically divert funds worth Rs 270 crore. These funds were allegedly transferred to his personal account over a period of three to four years.
To conceal the unauthorised transfers, Prabhu is accused of falsifying financial records. The FIR states he created fabricated bank and mutual fund statements and manipulated the company's books to disguise the misappropriated money.
Specifically, he allegedly misclassified more than Rs 211 crore as legitimate 'investments' in the company's accounts. This allowed him to hide the misuse of company capital for his personal, high-risk futures and options trading.
To add some context, Prabhu was diverting company funds for his derivatives trading in the backdrop of a retail frenzy in India's F&O market. His bets backfired and resulted in estimated losses of over Rs 250 crore.
The fund diversion came to light only after Prabhu's voluntary admission via email, after which the company conducted an internal review and discovered the full extent of the alleged fraud, the FIR said.
Gameskraft had earlier said that write-offs related to Prabhu's misappropriation led to a decline in the company's net profit for fiscal 2025.
The Bengaluru-based firm reported a net profit of Rs 706 crore on a revenue of Rs 4,009 crore for the financial year ended March 2025. This compared with Rs 947 crore net profit on a revenue of Rs 3,475 crore in the previous year.
The company said FY25 was the first full year of 28 per cent GST tax on its operations. The previous year's earnings were factoring in a six-month impact of the newly introduced GST regime for the online gaming sector.
The 2024-25 profit was also impacted by 'a one-time accounting adjustment of past unsanctioned transactions amounting to approximately Rs 231 crore', it had earlier said in a statement.
The Indian online gaming sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation with the recent Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which prohibits all online real-money games, whether skill-based or chance-based.
Gameskraft, among other firms, has discontinued its operations until further notice.
"The legislation has created widespread disruption, compelling operators to shut down online money game operations and begin the arduous journey of reimagining their business models. This regulatory shift comes after the introduction of the 28% GST on deposits in October 2023, which compressed margins and slowed growth," it had said.
