BetonSports’ not to be represented in court today to fight the TRO placed by DOJ
David Carruthers and half a dozen others are due in court in St Louis, Missouri this afternoon for an arraignment hearing regarding their indictment on racketeering and tax evasion charges. The Department of Justice will also apply for a further extension to the restraining order on BetonSports’ operations or have the order made permanent.
Sources say, the company is still split on whether to comply with the restraining order or any part of it.
The first practical reason is because the company has not been served with the appropriate paperwork. However, it is thought the board is also split on whether the company should be complying with the Department of Justice because of the “huge matter of jurisdiction” and whether the US has any right to issue such orders.
At the time of writing, the BetonSports website was still down. However, it is believed the staff are on notice to re-start operations at a moments notice.
There has been some suggestion the site could be up and running within the next 24 hours.
Sources say, David Carruthers’ own attorney is “more hopeful” of his client being released on bail.
“There are two schools of thought,” said the source. “One is that this is all about Gary (Kaplan) and that David (Carruthers) could be set free. The other is that they are using David (Carruthers) as an example.”
BetonSports was the subject of a story in the UK’s Sunday Times this weekend suggesting alleged connections with the mafia. According to the story, a company called Safe Deposit Sports shared offices with BetonSports in Costa Rica and was provided with ‘bandwidth’ for telephone services.
SDS was part of an illegal gambling ring with links to the Bonnano family, one of New York’s five families. In May 2005, 36 people linked with SDS were indicted in the US on illegal gambling charges.
Sources within BetonSports dismissed the story outright. However, analysts today admitted such stories “can only hurt the company”.
