Online Gambling Ring Bust Not Really About Internet Gambling

The online gambling ring bust that Pine Crest, Florida Police Commissioner, Raymond Kelly, is calling the 'largest illegal gambling operation... ever encountered', has nothing to do with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or the arrests of David Carruthers and Peter Dicks.

Police launched an investigation last year after receiving a tip from a suspect in a separate organized crime probe in Florida. A suspect in that case gave a tip which led to the sneaky seizure of poker pro James Giordano's laptop hard drive.

Giordano left his laptop in a New York hotel room one night while there attending a wedding. In the three hours the poker star was at the wedding New York Police Department investigators used a search warrant to get into his hotel room where they proceeded to quickly make a digital copy of Giordano's laptop hard drive.

The copied hard drive was the key that opened the door to the bust of a gambling web ring that saw more than $3.3 billion in sports wagers since 2004. The wagers were all placed on an internet website that was based in the US. That site, Playwithal.com, is unlike a typical internet casino where the site is based offshore, is regulated, and is run legally using licenses issued by the government in which they are run.

This gambling web ring had more than 2,000 bookies across the country who accepted and distributed cash wagers with clients: the internet site was only the tool used by players to make the bets and track lines.

According to Queens District Attorney, Richard Brown, the defendants allegedly laundered and stashed away "untold millions of dollars" using shell corporations and bank accounts in Central America, the Caribbean, Switzerland, Hong Kong and elsewhere. The prosecutor called the $500 million asset forfeiture case "among the largest such cases ever filed."

A total of 27 people in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Nevada were charged with enterprise corruption, money laundering, promoting gambling and other counts.

Charges also were brought against three companies that allegedly helped Giordano develop and secure the web site. The companies charged were Primary Development Inc. of Farmingdale, New York, Prolexic Technologies Inc. of Hollywood, Florida, and Digital Networks, S.A., Inc. of Davie, Florida.

November 16, 2006
Posted By Bob Hartman
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com    Previous Page | Internet Gambling | Top Online Casinos | Submit News!