By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, mo – Executives who run an online gambling operation have charged in St. Louis with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.
U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway announced a 22-count indictment Monday of eleven executives with Bet-on-Sports PLC. Three companies that work for the offshore operation have also been charged.
The indictment alleges that Bet-on-Sports founder Gary Kaplan failed to pay $3.3 billion in wager taxes to the U.S. Kaplan lives in Costa Rica, and he's wanted by federal authorities.
The Eastern District of Missouri court in St. Louis has ordered Bet-on-Sports and its various Web sites to stop all transactions with U.S. gamblers and to return their account balances. More than a million people have accounts with the company.
Authorities say Bet-on-Sports chief executive David Carruthers was arrested over the weekend in Texas as he tried to change flights en route from the United Kingdom to Costa Rica, where his company is based.