Search for Stephen Kaplan ends in the Dominican Republic
Monday 2nd April 2007
Stephen Kaplan, the founder of defunct online gambling website BetOnSports, has been arrested in the Dominican Republic, according to a US prosecutor.
US Attorney Catherine Hanaway is bringing the case against BetOnSports plc in St Louis federal court, and Kaplan is denoted as the company’s highest official in the 22-count case.
Hanaway said Kaplan was arrested at a hotel in Santo Domingo by the Dominican National Police, the US State Department and the FBI last Wednesday.
The federal indictment against Kaplan contends that he operated an illegal gambling den in New York in 1992, and subsequently transferred the business abroad and opened BetOnSports offices in Costa Rica between 1996 and 1997.
Both Kaplan and BetOnSports Chief Executive David Carruthers, who remains under house arrest in a suburb of St Louis, where hauled up on charges of felony racketeering and fraud.
In a civil case in November 2006 BetOnSports reached an agreement with Hanaway’s office that permanently halts the company from accepting any bets from gamblers in the US. The criminal case against the company is still ongoing.
