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Massachusetts Congressman John Tierney continues to insist he had no idea his relatives were involved in an illegal gambling ring, citing a court order allowing his brother-in-law Robert Eremian to return to the Caribbean in 2002 to serve as a software consultant to a legal offshore betting operation.
The Boston Globe this weekend featured a scathing multi page piece on Tierney, offering up evidence that suggests the Congressman should have been aware of his brother-in-law’s Antiguan-based business.
But Tierney this weekend alluded to the Court Order.
From the Boston Globe:
“There is no evidence that this court or the Probation Office was ever told the nature of what the business was in Antigua, or what was happening in Massachusetts,” Judge Patti B. Saris told jurors last November as the document was introduced into evidence during the trial of Robert Eremian’s brother Daniel.
In a private sidebar conversation with attorneys in the case, including one representing Patrice Tierney, the judge was even more blunt.
“[W]hat I’m not going to let happen, especially with the entire press corps out there, is for you to make the argument that Judge [Joseph L.] Tauro of this court said it was OK, or the Probation Office of this court,” Saris told Daniel Eremian’s attorney, Marc S. Nurik, according to the trial transcript.
Saris added in the same sidebar conversation: “I will allow this in [to evidence], but I would do this with a curative instruction that there is no evidence that Judge Tauro understood the full scope of what was happening that you’ve heard about in this trial, because the one thing that’s undisputed is all these hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash collections in paper bags, and people placing calls. There is no idea, nothing that I think either [Probation Officer] Pam Lombardini or Judge Tauro would have known about that, based on what you’ve just told me.”
Tierney’s own wife, Patrice, was convicted of aiding and abetting with the illegal bookmaking business, known as Sports Off Shore. It was among the very first wagering establishments licensed by the Antiguan government in 1996.
Whether Eremian’s business is actually deemed “illegal” depends on which side you speak to in a nearly decade long dispute between the United States and Antigua over the island nation’s lucrative Web wagering industry, although it should be noted that the Sports Off Shore Internet presence was nominal for the most part.
In March 2003, the government of Antigua and Barbuda ("Antigua") commenced the dispute resolution process of the World Trade Organization ("WTO") to challenge the United States' total prohibition of cross-border gambling services offered by Antiguan operators such as Eremian’s Sports Off Shore. The WTO found in favor of Antigua, essentially deeming Eremian’s licensed betting business to be legal. The US Government claims operators like Eremian are in violation of a 1962 Wire Act.
Tierney is facing re-election with his opponent hammering on his alleged association and/or knowledge of the Eremian gambling business.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
