Was BETonSPORTS Plc a Pig dressed up with Lipstick?

Written by Thomas Jensen

Thursday, 24 May 2007

Reduced Juice Betting

BETonSPORTS Plc was a Pig dressed up with Lipstick

Point-Spreads.com has obtained a copy of the 24 page plea agreement between the Eastern District of Missouri and BETonSPORTS Plc. While the information in the plea agreement (link to PDF file at the bottom of this article) was enlightening, the document leaves just as many questions as answers.

One thing in the document is crystal clear, the general position of the current board of directors of BETonSPORTS is that they bought a "dolled up pig with lipstick on it" from company founder Gary Kaplan and former CEO David Carruthers.

ANSWERS
1.) The current plea agreement only protects the un-named directors of BETonSPORTS for the charges brought against the company by the Eastern District of Missouri. It does not allow the company or un-named directors to escape further indictments from other federal districts or from individual state prosecutors.

2.) The current plea acknowledges that "several such districts are investigating criminal conduct related to internet gambling". This means that we can expect to see BETonSPORTS and others getting indicted down the road. BETonSPORTS was already indicted by federal prosecutors in the state of Utah.

3.) In the agreement, BETonSPORTS acknowledges that it is "obligated by a Permanent Injunction in a parallel civil proceeding to repay monies owed to account holders in the US". Despite this, the company indicates in the agreement it will seek liquidation and dissolution under the laws of Great Britain.

4.) The "defendants state that it is insolvent, that its liabilities are greater than its assets". Basically, the players hoping for a miracle can stop praying. They are dead broke.

5.) Two watchdogs, OSGA and ISBC, were named in the agreement as being owned by BETonSPORTS. While this was widely known by industry insiders, it is of particular interest that the government alleges correctly that the company used these watchdog websites to dupe bettors into playing.

QUESTIONS
1.) BETonSPORTS will be required to supply at least one witness to testify against the other defendants, namely Gary Kaplan and David Carruthers, should their individual cases go to trial. What director will be called to testify?

2.) BETonSPORTS agrees to allow the government to keep all seized assets. Point-Spreads.com wants to know if any players funds were seized by the government including those funds tied up in NETeller?

3.) BETonSPORTS must sign a "Net Worth Statement" and other financial disclosures and hand those documents over to the United States Probation Office. Will the company turn over players account information?

4.) BETonSPORTS agreed NOT to disburse funds and to help the US government recover dispersed funds. Does this mean that vendors and advertising outlets will be asked to return funds? Will they go after BETonSPORTS payment processors that are rumored to hold millions of dollars on behalf of the company?

5.) The United States acknowledges in the agreement that an injunction from Antigua & Barbuda will impact BETonSPORTS ability to comply with the terms of the permanent injunction. At sentencing, "if it is determined that there are no funds" the government will dismiss the forfeiture allegation to this defendant only. Kaplan, Carruthers and the rest of the defendants won't be this lucky but how will the WTO ruling in favor of Antigua play out in this aspect of the case?

Point-Spreads.com will continue to monitor the BETonSPORTS story as it unfolds.

Copy of the BETonSPORTS plea agreement:

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/moe/press%20releases/archived%20press%20releases/2007_press_releases/may/betonsports_plea.pdf