The former chief executive of one of the world's largest online gambling companies, BetOnSports, will remain in federal custody after pleading not guilty Monday to charges of mail and wire fraud and racketeering.
David Carruthers, 48, was one of several BetOnSports PLC employees and associates named in a federal 22-count indictment who pleaded not guilty.
Neil Kaplan and Lori Kaplan Multz, the brother and sister of BetOnSports founder Gary Kaplan, were among those pleading not guilty.
The government claims BetOnSports and its employees fraudulently took billions of dollars in wagers from U.S. residents by phone and over the Internet without paying excise taxes.
No one appeared on behalf of BetOnSports PLC, a British online gambling company. U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway wasn't surprised.
"They have not had any regard for the law," Hanaway said. "And to not appear would be a further step along that same path."
Gary Kaplan is a former New York-area bookie now living in Costa Rica, authorities said. He remained at large despite the indictment.
Carruthers was transported to St. Louis from Dallas, according to court officials. He was arrested July 16 by federal agents at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport en route to Costa Rica, where the company has an office.
The Justice Department is seeking the forfeiture of $4.5 billion, cars and computers from the defendants.
BetOnSports fired Carruthers, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom, last week and the company has agreed to a judge's order to stop accepting U.S. bets. The company has also asked the London Stock Exchange to suspend trading of its shares.
In a separate courtroom Monday, U.S. District Carol Jackson extended a temporary restraining until Aug. 14 to halt all BetOnSports business in the U.S. and Hanaway said her office is seeking to make that order indefinite.
Also entering not guilty pleas at Monday's arraignments were BetOnSports employee Tim Brown; William Lenis, 52, who owned Mobile Promotions Inc., a Florida company that did promotions and marketing for BetOnSports; William Lenis' son and daughter, Monica and William Luis Lenis, and his nephew, Manny Lenis, who worked for Mobile Promotions.
William Lenis also owned two other companies named in the indictments.
Attorney Paul D'Agrosa pleaded not guilty on behalf of DME Global Marketing, another one of the Lenis family companies, which does work for BetOnSports.
"BetOnSports and others who did not come here, maybe they are thumbing their nose at the government," D'Agrosa told The Associated Press. "We do not think much of this case either."
BetOnSports spokesman Keith Smith told industry news Web site gambling911.com that the company had not yet been served with legal papers as of Friday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Ann Medler and prosecutors said the company had been properly served. She set a hearing date of Aug. 21 for the defendants who appeared, but said that date may be postponed.
All of those who appeared at Monday's arraignment are free on bond, except Carruthers, who will remain in custody until his attorneys draft a new proposal for the conditions of his release. Prosecutors have asked that his bond be denied and called him a flight risk.
BetOnSports is one of the largest companies to date that the government has prosecuted for alleged illegal online gambling. In the fiscal year ended Feb. 5, BetOnSports said it handled $1.8 billion in bets.
Some federal authorities are cracking down on online gambling, which is estimated to be a $12 billion a year industry worldwide.
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would prohibit credit cards and other payment forms from being used to settle Internet wagers. The legislation would leave state-run lotteries and horse racing alone and specifically says that most gambling is illegal online. The bill is awaiting Senate approval.
The arrests of the BetOnSports CEO sent a chill through the industry and an online-betting conference in Las Vegas was canceled earlier this month. However, the founder and CEO of the popular Internet casino Bodog.com, Calvin Ayre, has said the indictment would not threaten his industry.
http://www.freedomtofascism.com/ Looks like the CFR is about to get alot of bad press. Spread the word about this one it is the truth finally out in the open for everyone to see.
AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM "FOUR STARS (Highest Rating). The scariest damn film you'll see this year. It will leave you staggering out of the theatre, slack-jawed and trembling. Makes 'Fahrenheit 9/11' look like 'Bambi.' After watching this movie, your comfy, secure notions about America -- and about what it means to be an American -- will be forever shattered. Producer/director Aaron Russo and the folks at Cinema Libre Studio deserve to be heralded as heroes of a post-modern New American Revolution. This is shocking stuff. You'll be angry, you'll be disgusted, but you may actually break out in a cold sweat and feel a sickness deep in your gut; I would advise movie theatre managers to hand out vomit bags. You may end up needing one." --- Todd David Schwartz, CBS
I visited this web site and read what they had to say. Seems to me they are contradicting themselves on one point and are just plain silly on another.
The Federal Reserve keeps inflation under control. Without it, we would experience cycles of inflation. We regulate the interest rate which in turn either slows the economy or speeds it up, whichever we wish. To shut this bureau down would bring back cycles of rapid inflation.
Globalization and the environmental movement are one and the same. just look at the Koyoto (Misspelled?) treaty. Only the US is penalized under that treaty; the rest of the world can keep on keeping on.
I agree with them that the Patriot Act needs to be repealed; that our borders need securing; that policticians, looking for a vote, should not polarize the country by demeaning the well meaning intentions of some of our elected leaders.
I disagree about having more than two political parties. Just look around the world; study the countries that have three or more parties. They fight all the time; their elections are a sham; the populace is ignored completely.
So watch this movie if you must but after you do, read a history book on World Civilization, not just America. Start with 1915. I feel that if you do you will realize we are where we are because the leaders of the world at that time, 1915 to 2000, refused to take the sensible course and opted instead for the easy path. All our troubles today can be traced back to those leaders who appeased the populace rather than make them stand on their own two feet.
That's a great story. I hope the final verdict is guilty when the retrial begins.
since we are talking about politics
Movie coming out the 28th
http://www.freedomtofascism.com/
Looks like the CFR is about to get alot of bad press.
Spread the word about this one it is the truth finally out in the open for everyone to see.
AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM
"FOUR STARS (Highest Rating). The scariest damn film you'll see this year. It will leave you staggering out of the theatre, slack-jawed and trembling. Makes 'Fahrenheit 9/11' look like 'Bambi.' After watching this movie, your comfy, secure notions about America -- and about what it means to be an American -- will be forever shattered. Producer/director Aaron Russo and the folks at Cinema Libre Studio deserve to be heralded as heroes of a post-modern New American Revolution. This is shocking stuff. You'll be angry, you'll be disgusted, but you may actually break out in a cold sweat and feel a sickness deep in your gut; I would advise movie theatre managers to hand out vomit bags. You may end up needing one."
--- Todd David Schwartz, CBS
Check out this video clip:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3254488777215293198
http://video.google.com/static/btn_download.gif
I visited this web site and read what they had to say. Seems to me they are contradicting themselves on one point and are just plain silly on another.
The Federal Reserve keeps inflation under control. Without it, we would experience cycles of inflation. We regulate the interest rate which in turn either slows the economy or speeds it up, whichever we wish. To shut this bureau down would bring back cycles of rapid inflation.
Globalization and the environmental movement are one and the same. just look at the Koyoto (Misspelled?) treaty. Only the US is penalized under that treaty; the rest of the world can keep on keeping on.
I agree with them that the Patriot Act needs to be repealed; that our borders need securing; that policticians, looking for a vote, should not polarize the country by demeaning the well meaning intentions of some of our elected leaders.
I disagree about having more than two political parties. Just look around the world; study the countries that have three or more parties. They fight all the time; their elections are a sham; the populace is ignored completely.
So watch this movie if you must but after you do, read a history book on World Civilization, not just America. Start with 1915. I feel that if you do you will realize we are where we are because the leaders of the world at that time, 1915 to 2000, refused to take the sensible course and opted instead for the easy path. All our troubles today can be traced back to those leaders who appeased the populace rather than make them stand on their own two feet.