London betting website founder arrested

The founder of the London-based BetOnSports gambling website, Stephen Kaplan, has been arrested in the Dominican Republic, according to a US prosecutor.

US Attorney Catherine Hanaway is prosecuting a case against BetOnSports plc in St Louis federal court.

Kaplan is named in a 22-count criminal case as the company’s top official.

Hanaway said Kaplan was arrested at a hotel in Santo Domingo by the Dominican National Police, the US State Department and the FBI on Wednesday.

“This was a worldwide search, and thanks to the assistance of many law enforcement agencies this fugitive will soon be back in St Louis to face the charges against him,” Hanaway said in a statement.

BetOnSports Chief Executive David Carruthers remains under house arrest in a suburb of St Louis.

He was arrested in July, shortly after Hanaway unsealed the criminal indictment against the publicly traded company.

Jeffrey Demerath, a lawyer representing BetOnSports in St Louis, said he had no comment on Kaplan’s arrest or the criminal case yesterday.

Hanaway’s spokeswoman Jan Diltz said she did not know when Kaplan will arrive in St Louis to be arraigned.

The indictment charges Carruthers and Kaplan with felony racketeering and fraud.

The charges are filed using a 1960s-era law known as the Wire Act that prohibits placing bets on sports events over the phone.

Originally designed to crack down on mobsters, the law has become a tool for US prosecutors to charge offshore internet gambling operations.

Hanaway’s office and BetOnSports reached a settlement in November that permanently bars the company from accepting any bets from gamblers in the US

While the settlement ended a civil case Hanaway filed against BetOnSports, it has no effect on the criminal case.

The federal indictment against Kaplan alleges that he founded an illegal gambling operation in New York in 1992.

After being caught, he moved his operation overseas and opened BetOnSports offices in Costa Rica between 1996 and 1997, according to the indictment.