Friday, November 17, 2006

Criminal charges have been brought against more than two dozen people and
corporations in four states in connection with a billion-dollar-a-year
gambling website, authorities said yesterday. Authorities declined to name
any of those charged. One of the corporations is an offshore Internet
company with an American counterpart, said Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Ryan said the case is "one of the
first times that a web designer corporation and the companies that maintain
the websites have been charged." He said the arrests by the DA's office and
the New York Police Department represent the first time that Internet
gambling charges have been brought since President George W. Bush signed
into law last month the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Ryan
said arrests had been made in four states, and "we have initiated a
$500-million asset forfeiture case," one of the largest in state history.
The charges come after a two-year international investigation that focused
on Internet gambling.