ABSENCE AT ARRAIGNMENT MAKES ONLINE GAMBLING COMPANY
VULNERABLE
12 January 2007
Lawyer forbidden by BetonSports to appear
The US government case against besieged betting group
BetonSports took a serious turn last Friday when Jeffrey
Demerath, an attorney representing the company, did not
pitch up at the arraignment hearing where BoS was to
face charges under US gambling laws.
The apparent disregard for the authority of the court
could open the UK gambling group to criminal sanctions.
Demerath had earlier messaged government officials that
he had been instructed by his client not to appear in
the St. Louis court reports the Bloomberg business news
service.
Official reaction was immediate, with Michael Fagan, a
lawyer for the prosecution telling Magistrate Judge Mary
Ann Medler that he will ask next week that Betonsports
be ordered to show why it shouldn't be punished.
"If they don't show up, they can be held in contempt of
court and fined for every day they don't show up,'' said
James Montana, a former federal prosecutor not involved
in the case.
"I hope Mr. Demerath can talk sense to his client so we
can work something out,'' Fagan, an assistant U.S.
attorney, said in court.
Demerath confirmed in an interview that his client had
instructed him not to appear. He declined to comment
further.
A judge might order London-based Betonsports tried in
absentia if it continues to avoid court, giving the
company no chance to defend itself, and the company
might be fined for violating laws against electronic
betting across state lines, Montana said.
"They [BetonSports] seem to be putting themselves at
risk,'' said Montana, of Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz
in Chicago.
A 22-count indictment unsealed July 17 charged the
company, its founder Gary Kaplan, former Chief Executive
Officer David Carruthers and others with racketeering
and demanded the forfeiture of $4.5 billion. Seven
individual co-defendants, including Carruthers, pleaded
not guilty. Carruthers, arrested as he changed planes at
a Dallas area airport, has been under house arrest in
St. Louis since Aug. 16 when he posted a $1 million
bond. Kaplan and two other defendants are at large.
Betonsports signed an agreement in November consenting
to the company's court-ordered ban from the U.S. market.
Carruthers, Kaplan's brother and sister and four people
whose Miami direct-mail marketing business did work for
Betonsports pleaded not guilty in a July court
appearance before U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson
in St. Louis.
The individual defendants asked Jackson to throw out the
criminal case, arguing the indictment violates a World
Trade Organisation treaty.
"The cross-border supply of gambling and betting
services" from Betonsports offices in Costa Rica is a
service "which the United States committed to not
prohibit'' when it joined the WTO, attorney Alan Ross
said in court papers. Ross represents William Hernan
Lenis, a direct-mail marketer.
The company maintained offices in Costa Rica and
Antigua. In 2005, the World Trade Organisation ruled
U.S. laws criminalising Internet-based remote-access
gambling violated WTO treaty obligations, Ross, of the
Miami law firm Robbins, Tunkey, Ross, Amsel, Raben &
Waxman, said in court papers.
Prosecutors haven't filed papers opposing that motion.
Betonsports suspended trading of its shares on the
London Stock Exchange a day after the indictment was
unsealed. It fired Carruthers days later.
The company took in wagers in 2004 totaling $1.25
billion, 98 percent of which was sports bets placed by
U.S. gamblers using Betonsports' Web sites and U.S.
phone lines, Jackson said in an order making its U.S.
ban permanent.
The order ended the government's civil (but not
criminal) case against the company, filed the day the
indictment was unsealed.
Betonsports has received nearly 5 000 requests for
refunds, says Bloombergs. Demerath last week said the
company will comply with Jackson's order that they be
repaid, but revealed that an Antiguan court order over
the companys assets was delaying payment (see previous
InfoPowa reports).
The criminal case is U.S. v. Betonsports, 06-cr-337,
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri (St.
Louis).
Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa
More news here.
Top of page |
Home |
News |
Forum |
Webcast |
Vortran |
Accredited Casinos |
Evil Ones |
Pitch a Bitch |
Online Gambling Resources |
Poker
|
