David Carruthers pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he ran an illegal
gambling operation while serving as CEO of U.K.-based BetonSports plc, one
of the world’s largest online betting sites.
Carruthers, 10 other individuals and four companies are at the center of a
22-count indictment issued by the United States in early July.
According to the indictment, Carruthers, Kaplan and the others are charged
with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud, including failing to pay federal
wagering excise taxes on more than $3.3 billion in wagers taken from U.S.
bettors.
Jan Diltz, a spokeswoman for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri,
said Carruthers appeared in court to plead not guilty but bail was not set.
“He and his attorneys are working on a possible bond package,” she said.
Diltz added that while the amount of Carruthers’ bail is not set, any bond
arrangement would require electronic monitoring and restricting him to St.
Louis.
The U.S. is seeking $1 million in bail in addition to
electronic monitoring and restricting Carruthers to St. Louis.
BetonSports fired
Carruthers shortly after his July 16 arrest
in Fort Worth, Texas, while en route from London to BetonSports’ operations
in Costa Rica.
Carruthers, 48, was transferred to St. Louis, where the indictment was
issued.
In a separate hearing, the court extended for another two weeks a
restraining order to force BetonSports to stop taking bets from U.S.
gamblers.
Last week, BetonSports pulled the plug on U.S. connections to its
gambling sites.
Public trading was suspended in BetonSports two days after Carruthers was
arrested.
Carruthers is the only person named in the indictment under detention. Gary
Kaplan, the founder of BetonSports, remains at large in Costa Rica.
