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 Welcome to
the News desk.
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| Betonsports pleads guilty to violating US racketeering
laws |
25/05/2007 |
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Andrew
Clark in New York
The British
online gambling company Betonsports has pleaded guilty to federal racketeering
under a deal to settle a criminal prosecution for flouting America's
prohibition on internet casinos.
In an agreement announced by the US
department of justice last night, Betonsports admitted a string of felonies
including repeated mail and wire fraud, money laundering and illegal gaming.
The company faces a fine of about £250,000 and in a potentially
contentious clause of the agreement, it has promised to provide witnesses and
information to aid the US government's prosecution of its former chief
executive, David Carruthers.
Betonsports'
admission will be claimed as a victory by American opponents of online
gambling. Leading Republicans, including George Bush, see the activity as
immoral and an untaxed outflow of money from America.
Catherine
Hanaway, the federal prosecutor who brought the case against Betonsports in
Missouri, said the plea should "put an end to the Betonsports illegal gambling
empire".
At its peak, Betonsports took bets from more than 100,000
regular players, raising revenue of more than £800m annually. But the
firm's fortunes went into a tailspin when its chief executive was arrested
while changing planes in Dallas travelling from Britain to an offshore call
centre in Costa Rica. Betonsports is now in liquidation which, its lawyer says,
means that it is uncertain whether the company can aid in the prosecution of Mr
Carruthers, who has been under house arrest in St Louis, Missouri, since July.
Betonsports' US lawyer Jeffrey Demerath told the Guardian: "The
agreement says we will provide information and witnesses if asked but in my
client's state of liquidation, I don't know how helpful it can be."
Several other British companies have been caught up in the American
betting crackdown. Sportingbet's then chairman, Peter Dicks, was arrested in
New York in September but released without charge.
Betonsports'
settlement will allow its directors, including the Conservative spokesman on
Northern Ireland Lord Glentoran, to travel to America without fear of arrest.
In January, the founders of the online payment firm Neteller were charged with
money laundering.
The World Trade Organisation recently ruled that
America's ban on online gambling amounted to illegal discrimination against
foreign companies. Betonsports will be formally sentenced in October.
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