MONDAY BIG DAY FOR BETONSPORTS

Media and industry attention will be focused on the happenings in Judge Carol E. Jackson's courtoom in the Eastern District of Missouri on Monday, where a hearing is scheduled on a temporary injunction that currently prevents BetonSports from taking U.S. business.  The injunction was granted on July 18 to federal authorities and extended late last week to Monday in order to allow service of documents on the UK public company.
 
But huge interest will also be directed at another court hearing in the same district, where an arraignment hearing is scheduled in which charges will be put to those accuseds that the feds have been able to apprehend so far regarding a Grand Jury indictment listing 22 accusations against 11 defendants with connections to BetonSports.
 
In particular the recently dismissed CEO, David Carruthers' case will be watched. He remains in custody and by then will have been transferred to St. Louis from Texas where he was arrested whilst in transit at Dallas-Fort Worth airport on July 16 (see previous InfoPowa reports). He and his defence team are hoping to secure his release on bail, which has thus far been opposed by the authorities, citing "flight risk."
 
The present directorate and management of BetonSports, a UK public company, has reportedly been in Costa Rica over the past week trying to negotiate a way out of the companys predicament but has now returned to Britain according to Associated Press reports. In compliance with the US injunction, the company has closed its US facing website to business at a reported cost of $4 million a day.
 
The legal actions surfaced earlier this month with a series of arrests, including Carruthers, of individuals with employment or other connections to BetonSports.  A sealed Missouri grand jury indictment dating back to early June was used as the platform for the arrests and alleges that 11 individuals are involved on 22 counts that allege money laundering, tax evasion, racketeering, fraud and other offences.  The US government is seeking the forfeiture of $4.5 billion, cars and computers from the defendants.
 
Among those accused is the founder of BetonSports, a colourful ex-New York bookie named Gary Kaplan who is still at large but is urgently sought by the US authorities.
 
Over the weekend, Associated Press reported that the action was not thought to be a nationwide blitz on online gambling. The AP report says that the case is not part of a coordinated federal crackdown on the industry, and quotes DoJ spokesperson Jackie Lesch who says that the Department pursues cases that have the strongest evidence and greatest potential for deterrence.
 
The news service said that attorneys at the Justice Department headquarters have been involved from the outset in the investigation by the US Attorney's office in St. Louis of BetOnSports PLC.
 
One of the chief government figures involved in the case, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Catherine L. Hanaway , said her office has a history of bringing cases against Internet gambling firms and companies that carry advertisements for them, including Paypal, the Discovery Channel and the Sporting News.
 
"Those cases have resulted in multimillion dollar civil enforcements," Hanaway said. Her office has been pursuing Internet gambling cases since 1998 and its "investigative and prosecutorial resources have great expertise" in that area, she added.
 
The BetOnSports investigation started long before Hanaway became U.S. attorney last July and the Justice Department lawyers in Washington had been involved from the beginning, she said, noting that an attorney from Justice's organised crime and racketeering section is working on the case.
 
When asked if the case was part of a larger, coordinated Justice Department effort, Hanaway said she could not comment on ongoing investigations.
 
BetonSport's shares, which are quoted on the London Stock Exchange, were suspended on July 18 at the company's request. In a shock announcement some days after Carruthers was arrested the Board dismissed the executive from both management and the directorate in a move that has been interpreted as an attempt to distance the now troubled company from the issues surrounding the indictment.