An unsealed indictment released on Wednesday morning by the US Department of Justice shows a massive crackdown on Legendz Sports (formerly Legends Sports), a very well-known offshore betting operation.
According to CalvinAyre.com, its founder Luke King, his wife Serena King, other Legendz executives and at least “23 other companies that allegedly helped move money between gamblers and the Legendz website” have been named in the indictment.
The documents, which were unsealed in a federal court located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, show that Legendz Sports company profits exceeded $1 billion since 2003 alone. The 95-page indictment shows that while the site was based out of Costa Rica and Panama, it still accepted wagers in the United States via “agents” and bookies, as well as telephone bets from USA sports bettors as well.
The extremely revealing indictment also names 20+ smaller betting sites that were ran by Legendz or were somehow related to the company, including BetJamaica.com and BetLegends.eu. It’s unclear if any of the .com’s that were named on pages 16 and 17 will be shut down this week, as the FBI has yet to put a formal seizure warning on any of those properties as of the time of this story.
Acting assistant attorney general Mythili Raman and the US Department of Justice will be seeking at least $1 billion in fines for Legendz Sports continuing to accept wagers from Americans illegally for the better part of a decade. Company assets include a private jet, a cache of luxury cars, real estate holdings and other offshore banking accounts.
The penalty itself is similar to the one the DOJ had previously sought against PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker post-“Black Friday.” The actual amount paid by PokerStars (who ultimately ended up acquiring Full Tilt and its assets) was $731 million, making it the largest settlement thus far for the Department of Justice since UIGEA passed in 2006.
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