From migrating to Myanmar as a labourer to make ends meet, to returning home and building an empire that now includes an array of businesses by selling lottery tickets, Santiago Martin's meteoric rise echoes a 'rags-to-riches' story, though a controversial one.

His firm, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, tops the list of companies that bought electoral bonds, declared illegal by the Supreme Court last month, to be donated to political parties, most importantly the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a time companies owned by him were under the scanner of several Central investigating agencies.

Martin's company purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore between April 2019 and January 2024, as per details uploaded on the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Martin, who began his life as a labourer in his teenage by working in Myanmar, had befriended the influential in almost every political party that mattered in states his firms function from - in Tamil Nadu, he was closely associated with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and in Kerala, he had a good rapport with the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

After returning from Myanmar, he founded the Martin Lottery Agencies Ltd in Coimbatore, a city that he is associated with closely till date, and there was no looking back. He began selling lottery tickets to people who wanted to become rich overnight and slowly spread his business to neighbouring states like Kerala, where sale of lottery is still a thriving business, and Karnataka, before moving to north-east and even neighbouring countries.

He came to be known as 'Lottery king' and continued to thrive in the business despite states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka banning the sale of lottery tickets and diversified into real estate, hospitality, satellite television channel, and software. Future Gaming still operates in 13 states where sale of lottery tickets is legal.

Martin also landed in controversies in several states, especially in Kerala, for making donations to political parties while facing allegations of defrauding the Sikkim Government of Rs 4,500 crore.

With friends across the political spectrum, Martin knew where the political wind blew and planned his move accordingly. As the BJP looked to sweep the 2014 polls, Martin's wife Leema Rose joined the IJK of media baron and educationist Pariventhar aka Pachamuthu and appeared on stage with the then NDA Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

In 2015, Martin's elder son Charles was inducted into the saffron party. His close association with the DMK - he produced a film written by Karunanidhi -- brought Martin under the direct line of fire of the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2011 when her government slapped the stringent Goondas Act against him and put him in jail for eight months.