Antigua Man Indicted 13 Years Ago for Sports Betting Ring Arrested
Richard Sullivan, 73, of St. John’s, Antigua, has finally been captured by U.S. law enforcement. His appehension comes 13 years after a federal grand jury in Boston indicted him with numerous charges related to his alleged offshore sports betting operation.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Richard Sullivan was held at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York while going through customs on his way back to the US from Antigua.
On August 21, 2023, Sullivan was arraigned in the Eastern District of New York and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
The 73-year-old was charged in connection with his involvement in a large-scale illicit gambling operation that used an Antiguan Internet site but operated in the United States.
According to the indictment, Sullivan and his three co-conspirators – Todd Lyons, Robert Eremian, and Daniel Eremian – ran Sports Offshore, an Antigua-licensed online gambling site that was actually operating in the United States, conducting an illegal gambling business that stretched from Massachusetts to Florida.
Sports Offshore allegedly used an internet site and toll-free phone line registered in Antigua to service customers in the United States.
The organization is reportedly said to have hired roughly 50 gambling agents in the United States, who allegedly solicited hundreds of consumers and collected gambling debts before sending the illicit gaming revenues to Antigua.
According to the DOJ, Sullivan and his co-conspirators made more than US$22 million from the illicit gambling operation and laundered more than US$10 million in checks and wire transfers.
Lyons and Daniel Eremian were convicted in December 2011 for their participation in the plot.
Lyons received a four-year jail sentence, one year of supervised release, and was ordered to return $24.6 million.
Daniel Eremian received a three-year prison sentence, one year of supervised release, and was ordered to forfeit $7.7 million.
Sullivan is accused of racketeering, running an illegal gambling enterprise, and money laundering.
He is facing a lengthy prison sentence.
According to the DOJ, this was one of the first cases in which individuals were charged with violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).
The UIGEA Act was enacted in 2006 to discourage US individuals from using the US banking system to pay Internet gambling obligations.
