Eastern PA Online Gambling Cold Case Gets Hotter as Trial Set for January 3
An online gambling payment processing case is reportedly set to go to trial on January 3, though a delay is possible.
The US Attorney’s Office in Eastern Pennsylvania case involves processing for companies during the years 2005 and 2006, including the now defunct BetOnSports.com. Companies that are still in existence today are also mentioned in the complaint, including Bodog.com, though they are not named as one of the defendants.
Don Hellinger, President of Quadra Media,LLC publisher of Inked, Inked Girls and Freshly Inked Magazines, was charged with the alleged illegal distribution of over $40 million in Internet gambling winnings during that period through a money transfer company, Payment Processing, Inc.
There have been rumblings throughout the online gambling sector in recent weeks of other law enforcement agencies involvement in this case - most notably the US Attorney’s Office out of Baltimore and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Though the dots could not be completely connected where all three matters are concerned, the rumblings involving each are cascading through offshore/online gambling shops like a fast moving tsunami.
Customers of Bodog.com were quick to notice that the company abruptly changed its payout policy this month, announcing checks may take up to 14 days longer to arrive. While this has caused some minor uproar on posting forums, Gambling911.com is quick to point out that Bodog payout time frames to customers in North America is still comparable, if not better, than the industry as a whole, at least on the poker side.
The Eastern PA investigation has been widely covered by Gambling911.com over the past several months, specifically as it pertains to potential conflicts of interest in representation and a perceived “incestuous” relationship between legal counsel.
Three of the attorneys in this matter simultaneously represented clients in the BetOnSports indictment out of St. Louis, Missouri, which was at the same time a civil fraud complaint was filed against Hellinger in Philadelphia, Gambling911.com is learning. One attorney in the Hellinger case, Anne Dixon, reportedly represented BetOnSports defendant Tim Brown, who was among nearly a dozen BoS executives and employees charged with violation of gambling laws. BetOnSports founder Gary Kaplan and CEO David Carruthers were charged with money laundering and tax evasion. Carruthers, up until recently, was serving the final months of his sentence in his native England after being transferred from St. Louis back in April. Kaplan is now out on probation, his whereabouts unknown.
“You cannot have the same attorney representing two different clients in two different, separate federal investigations for the similar offenses committed over the exact same time span,” our source notes.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
