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Casinos> 2007
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Final Chapter For Betonsports?
Online gambling firm negotiates a guilty plea and plans
to liquidate
The Betonsports saga could be nearing an end, according to a report
in the UK newspaper The Sunday Telegraph, which quotes company officials
as saying that the embattled company could be about to cop a guilty
plea bargain with the US Department of Justice, and that liquidation
proceedings could be on the books thereafter.
The quid pro quo for the present board of directors would be impunity
from further proceedings or personal charges.
Quite where this leaves fired CEO David Carruthers, who still awaits
trial after more than 8 months of house arrest in St. Louis, or
for that matter the many unpaid players of the group owed money
by the Antiguan subsidiary of the company is anyone's guess.
The Telegraph says that the decision to accept a guilty plea bargain
to a range of racketeering and wire fraud charges against the company
followed advice from the company's American lawyers.
Chairman Clive Parritt apparently told the newspaper that a settlement
would prevent any as yet unindicted cases being brought against
the board of directors, which includes Lord Glentoran, the Tory
shadow minister for Northern Ireland.
Betonsports was one of several online gambling companies plunged
into crisis when it was forced by US federal court order to suspend
all operations in the American market following the arrest and detention
of CEO Carruthers whilst transitting the US. Carruthers was immediately
fired and apparently disowned by his fellow directors and remains
under house arrest, confined to the environs of St. Louis, Missouri
and still awaiting trial.
In March 2007 BoS founder and former executive Gary Kaplan was
also arrested after a long manhunt that culminated in his arrest
in the Dominican Republic. He, too remains in US custody pending
trial.
The BoS directorate has been in sensitive negotiations with the
Department of Justice, and although a final settlement document
is yet to be received from the DoJ, chairman Parritt appears willing
to sign the guilty plea. Later this month, on May 16 a special meeting
of creditors and shareholders will be held in the UK, at which it
is expected the liquidation of the company will be proposed.
The newspaper quotes Parritt: "We are close to an agreement
with the DoJ under which the case against Betonsports will be closed.
We will agree the company has been associated with being part of
an 'illegal gambling enterprise' between 1992 and 2006 but essentially
we are being penalised for buying the company from Kaplan."
Parritt said US customers are still owed money by the main subsidiary,
BetonSports Antigua, which is also being wound down.
"This deal will allow the liquidators to deal fairly with
the creditors of Betonsports plc, Parrit said. "Without such
an agreement the liquidators would have to manage the continuing
case in the United States."
Richard Creed, the financial director of the company said: "If
there is a way of mitigating circumstances and reducing possible
fines through a corporate guilty plea that gets the company off
the indictment, then that has to be an option - the financial benefits
of pleading guilty will be substantial."
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