Arrest During US Transit Flight
On Sunday July 16, 2006 Carruthers was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas while changing planes. He was travelling with his wife, Carol, from the BETonSPORTS Annual General Meeting in the United Kingdom to his home in Costa Rica where the two lived since 2000.
(At that meeting held on Friday, July 14, he had publicly announced that the chances of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (H.R. 4411) being passed by the US Senate were "remote".)
On July 21 Carruthers was still jailed in Fort Worth, Texas awaiting a bail hearing concerning Federal charges filed in Missouri related to his company taking wagers over the telephone and Internet from US citizens.
While the indictment against the 12 defendants in the case includes 22 counts, Carruthers is only charged with count one, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charge. Other charges include 'Mail Fraud', 'Transmission of Wagers/Wagering Information', 'Interstate Transportation of Gambling Paraphernalia', and 'Interference with Administration of Internal Revenue Laws', specifically the evasion of Federal wagering excise taxes.
Coming straight after the controversial extradition of the NatWest Three, to which it has been compared because both cases involve the indictment of non-US persons for actions taken outside the United States, the Carruthers case has attracted much media attention.
Analysts speculated that Carruthers' detention was politically motivated.:
- "We will be monitoring this case closely as it is too early to say if this is part of a broader strategy on prevention of Internet gambling in the US or if it is the Department of Justice flexing their muscle and trying to influence legislation," said Greg Harris, an analyst at Cannacord Capital.
- "David Carruthers is a prominent advocate of the pro-online gambling industry and the fear that this is an escalation of the anti-lobby will trouble markets," Williams de Broë analyst Nigel Parson said.
Read more about this topic: David Carruthers
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