Sports Offshore sentencing due this week
Prosecutors call for US justice system to 'bare teeth' as Daniel Eremian of Sports Offshore goes before court.
Daniel Eremian, the principal of Antigua-based online bookmaker Sports Offshore will be sentenced this Thursday in a Massachusetts Court.
The brother-in-law of US Representative John Tierney, Eremian was involved with Antigua-based operator Sports Offshore before his conviction on racketeering and Wire Act violation charges in December last year.
The company had taken bets from the United States while operating out of Antigua without a valid egaming licence.
Eremian’s fellow defendant, Todd Lyons, was notably the first individual in the US to be convicted for violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), while both were cleared of separate money-laundering charges. Lawyers for the pair moved for a judgement of acquittal last month, but the motions were denied.
Last month a forfeiture order was issued against Eremian and Lyons, with the US government seeking a forfeiture of more than US$40m. Of this sum, $7.8m has been tied to Eremian.
According to Massachusetts newspaper the Boston Herald, prosecutors in the case have called for the 62-year-old to be given at least four years in prison, arguing: “If the court’s sentence does not provide sufficient punishment, other offshore gambling businesses may take it as a signal that US laws have no teeth and that it is worth the risk to conduct their business in the United States.”