Swedish Businessman Pleads Guilty in Online Gambling Organized Crime Case
Swedish businessman Petter Magnus Karlsson has plead guilty to international racketeering conspiracy for his role in an organized crime scheme involving a San Diego card room and illegal bookmaking business.
Karlsson, who had been living in Asia, voluntarily traveled to the United States last week to face charges that had been pending for nine months, according to prosecutors.
He had remained the only suspect tied to the case still on the run. Karlsson also ran the Lucky Lady online casino and card room out of Costa Rica.
Karlsson faces maximum penalties of 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for July 17.
From the Times Union:
According to his plea agreement, Karlsson helped provide financing to lead co-defendant Sydney Bruce Segal in order to bankroll the latter’s bookmaking operation, which prosecutors allege took illegal sports bets from customers across Southern California and in Arizona.
Karlsson also provided Segal and others in the enterprise with access to offshore sports-gaming websites hosted in Curacao, Costa Rica, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom so they could place large illegal bets online while shielding their alleged unlawful activity from U.S. authorities, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to prosecutors, the enterprise’s primary offshore sports gambling website, betmex.net, was owned and operated by co-defendant David Gregg Leppo, and Karlsson supervised another accomplice, Pablo Ballestero Frech, in managing accounts for Segal on Leppo’s website and others.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
