Gary Kaplan Spends Passover Behind Bars
BetonSports founder Gary Kaplan is adhering to a strict Passover regimen of bread and water this week, but not by choice. Kaplan is being held behind bars in Puerto Rico and faces extradition to St. Louis probably in the coming days.
Kaplan was refused bail after his capture in the Dominican Republic on March 28.
His attorney, Maria Sandoval has already stated that she will apply for bail on behalf of her client once he reaches Missouri, where he will face 22 counts of criminal indictment.
Several BetOnSports officials have been charged with fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, including Norm Steinberg, who will remain in Costa Rica. Extradition laws are such that his marriage to a local Costa Rican and his citizenship there will make things difficult for the US government. Another employee of the company, Peter Wilson, remains at large.
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"Mail fraud and the Wire Act statutes were used successfully by the US government in the Jay Cohen case" |
Gambling911.com has reported that Kaplan's attorneys had been working to get past taxes paid to the IRS long before his indictment for tax evasion and various other charges were handed down last July.
Other charges include money laundering, racketeering and violation of a 1962 Wire Act.
"Mail fraud and the Wire Act statutes were used successfully by the US government in the Jay Cohen case," commented an attorney for one of the defendants charged in the BetonSports matter, referring to a case tried against World Sports Exchange founder, Jay Cohen. "They (the US government) have shown they can win by arguing either mail fraud or Wire Act violation."
The irony of a BetonSports coach parked outside a New York City courthouse in 2003
Attorneys for a number of defendants have been working to get the trial moved out of St. Louis and into the less hostile environment of Florida where many of the co-defendants currently reside. The trial has not yet been scheduled.
Each of the named defendants are facing a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Hanaway No Friend to Online Gambling
A leading light of the Republican party with close ties to the White House, Missouri's US attorney Catherine Hanaway is the woman behind a crusade against gaming which has put BetonSports' former boss David Carruthers in leg irons and prison clothes. And now she is seeking Mr. Kaplan.
Her appointment last year was described by the St Louis Post-Dispatch as the "the most politicised in recent memory". The six-foot, cigar-smoking conservative's political career includes sponsoring a bill to ban bestiality and opposition to tax rises for the wealthy. She backed an attempt to put the 10 commandments in every classroom.
"What we are seeing with these online gambling indictments is a reflection of the Justice Department's priorities," said the attorney for one of the defendants.
But at a time when the Attorney General is under fire, a high profile online gambling case may not be the wisest of agendas, suggest various industry experts.
"You will note that they (the prosecutors) in a statement blamed the Clinton administration for the current online gambling actions," someone close to the BetonSports case told Gambling911.com.
See Related Topics:
Co-Defendant in BetonSports Case Likely to Remain in Costa Rica
Gary Kaplan had Been in Talks With IRS Prior to Indictment
DOJ May Drop Charges Against Gary Kaplan Family Members
BetonSports Founder Gary Kaplan Arrested in the Dominican Republic
BetonSports Failed to Disclose Investigation to Ad Venues
BetonSports and Lord Glentoran Give US Justice Dept the Finger
Antigua Helping to Settle Online Payment Debts of BetonSports .....But....
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com
Originally published April 7, 2007 1:45 am ET
