Blue Monday’ Online Gambling Beneficiaries Jailed, Forced to Resign

Written by:
Alejandro Botticelli
Published on:
May/13/2013
Blue Monday’ Online Gambling Beneficiaries Jailed, Forced to Resign

It’s been nearly two years since close to a dozen online gambling domain names were seized as part of a payment processing sting operation. 

The so-called “Blue Monday” indictments against three individuals with ties to the ten online betting sites were announced on May 23, 2011 by the US Attorney’s Office in Baltimore and followed just weeks after more sweeping and crippling indictments were lodged against executives of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and UB.com on April 15, 2011.  The “Blue Monday” name was applied to reference the day of the week charges were filed, following a similar labeling for the April 15 indictments a la “Black Friday”.  

This was considered the darkest period the offshore gambling call center and Web sector had ever seen since March 5, 1998 when 21 operators were charged with violating The Wire Act.  There, too, more indictments were announced just weeks later.

“Blue Monday” involved the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland, with the cooperation of other law enforcement agencies, setting up a phony payment processing center.  They would ultimately seize funds belonging to BetED.com in addition to the actual domain name. 

“It is illegal for internet gambling enterprises to do business in Maryland, regardless of where the website operator is located,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein at the time. “We cannot allow foreign website operators to flout the law simply because their headquarters are based outside the country.”

As a result of this action, the vast majority of US-facing online wagering companies no longer accept customers from the state of Maryland.  The US Attorney’s Office there wasn’t through yet as they would go on to indict Bodog.com founder Calvin Ayre last year. 

But the “Blue Monday” beneficiaries in law enforcement would ultimately end up with the black eyes, as an astute TwoPlusTwo.com forum member by the name of “RidgeRunner” uncovered. 

$470,407 in seized funds was given to the county police service.  The man seen holding that big ‘ol check pictured above on the left, John Leopold, would later be sentenced to prison time. 

He is the former Anne Arundel County Executive charged with misconduct in office and behavior a judge condemned as "outrageous."  Leopold was sentenced to 30 days behind bars.

Following the “Blue Monday” indictments, Leopold said he was happy to see the department receive new equipment as a result of the seizure.

“Especially in these tough economic times, when I’ve had to make very unpleasant budget cuts, I’m pleased to see these revenues will come to the police department to help them out and help them do their job,” he said at the time. 

That $470,407 did little to help office morale.

Leopold’s misconduct trial included testimony of lurid secret sexual trysts and a county employee forced to drain his catheter bag even though he could have done it himself.

Leopold was ultimately charged with misusing his security detail and his scheduler to perform personal and political chores.

Then there is James Teare, seen on the right in the picture above, who was forced to resign from his post as Chief of Police. 

According to the indictment against Leopold, detectives on the security detail said they complained about Leopold to Teare but the former Chief of Police failed to act.

- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com

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