BRIT ONLINE GAMBLING BUSINESSMAN CHANGES GUILTY PLEA
(Update)
2 October 2009
Not clear what motivated change only days
before sentencing
Online gambling's long detained defendant in the United
States, British businessman David Carruthers (52), has
changed his guilty plea only days before being sentenced
by an American court, reports the UK newspaper The
Guardian.
Arrested whilst in transit through the
US travelling as CEO of the now defunct Betonsports
group in Costa Rica (see previous InfoPowa reports)
Carruthers has spent three years under house arrest in
St. Louis, Missouri.
In April this year he was
reported to have reached an agreement with US Justice
Department officials which would see him plead guilty on
racketeering charges related to online gambling in
return for a recommended penalty of 33 months'
imprisonment. Sentencing was scheduled to take place in
an American court this Friday.
But in the final
days before the sentencing was due to take place this
plea deal has abruptly broken down, The Guardian
reveals. In a terse legal filing, the court noted this
week that "the motion to set aside defendant David
Carruthers's guilty plea is granted".
A "change
of plea" hearing has been set for 14 October.
Neither Carruthers nor his lawyer, Scott Rosenblum,
responded to The Guardian's requests for comment. A
spokeswoman for the US attorney's office in St Louis
said prosecutors would not discuss the case.
Carruthers's lawyers were expected to argue that he has
effectively served his agreed sentence of 33 months
through his hotel confinement on $1 million bail since
August 2006.
The case against Carruthers drew
international attention and accusations of judicial
over-reach. Democratic Party Congressman Barney Frank,
who is seeking to have online gambling legalised in the
USA, has described the British citizen's airport arrest
in 2006 and subsequent confinement as "one of the most
Stalinist things I've ever seen my government do".
The Guardian reports that the reason for the
decision by Carruthers to change his guilty plea is not
at present clear.
Other defendants in the case,
including Betonsports founder Gary Stephen Kaplan, have
also entered guilty pleas following years of
investigations and pressure.
The newspaper notes
that America's prohibition of financial transactions
relating to online betting has fallen foul of the World
Trade Organisation, which ruled two years ago that the
law breaches international agreements on fair trade.
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
|
