Lawyers Seeking A Court Settlement Of Charges Against BetOnSports

It was reported in the St Louis Dispatch his week that BetOnSports, the billion-dollar London listed Internet gambling company which has been targeted by prosecutors in St. Louis and Washington, is trying to negotiate a settlement of civil and criminal charges against the company. This news came from lawyers on both sides. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Fagan agreed, saying, "I think we can resolve matters."

Jackson agreed to extend a temporary restraining order until October 16 to allow the parties to negotiate. Neither lawyer would comment after the hearing.

It was the first time a lawyer for the company has appeared in federal court in St. Louis. Federal prosecutors initially had difficulty serving the company with legal paperwork. They had supplied CEO David Carruthers with details of the charges against the company after his July 16 arrest in a Texas airport, but the company fired him while he was still behind bars.

A notice that Demerath had entered the case on behalf of the company caused Jackson to remark, “That’s good news!”

The charges surfaced when CEO David Carruthers was arrested in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport July 16 on his way to his home in Costa Rica. BetOnSports, its employees and associated companies and individuals were indicted in June on mail fraud, wire fraud and racketeering charges. Prosecutors say that they knowingly violated the law by allowing U.S. customers to gamble and place bets online and over the phone.

Carruthers has been released on $1 million bond and is under home detention in a St. Louis hotel.

Prosecutors won a temporary restraining order that barred the company from accepting bets from U.S. customers. The order also seeks to force the company to give up $4.5 billion and other property and hand over business records.

According to court documents about $4.6 billion was bet between 2001 and 2005 and most of the bets came from U.S. bettors. On August 11 it was announced that BetOnSports would no longer accept bets from U.S. customers, and that it would refund customer money.

So now it looks as though the remaining issues may be refunds, a fine and the handover of documents.

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