Kaplan Stays In Jail, Says Judge Cooper

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Published: Sunday, September 30, 2007 mgowanbo.cc

BetonSports founder's ill-health appeal fails

The Bloomberg business news agency reports that Gary Kaplan (48), the BetonSports plc founder captured 10 months after fleeing a U.S. government indictment for illegal Internet betting, has lost his bid to be freed on bail due to health considerations as he awaits trial.

U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson in a St. Louis federal court denied Kaplan's request to be released. He was initially denied bail by a federal magistrate in June after being extradited from Dominica where he was arrested by FBI agents working in concert with local authorities .

"There is no condition or combination of conditions of release that would reasonably assure the defendant's appearance," Jackson said this week in a ruling.

Formerly a major player in the online gambling industry and with most of its business in the United States, BetonSports was ruined by US Department of Justice actions that commenced with the arrest whilst in transit of former CEO David Carruthers over a year ago.

Carruthers, who has vigorously protested his innocence throughout, remains under house arrest in St. Louis and has yet to have his day in court on the many and serious charges laid against him by DoJ lawyers.

The London-based online gambling company pleaded guilty May 24 to a single racketeering conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors by furnishing evidence against Kaplan and 11 co-defendants, including Carruthers. All of the 11 individual defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Kaplan had previously offered to pay for a private security detail to guard him and agreed to wear electronic monitoring equipment if he was granted bail.