Guernsey aids US hunt for Net betting bucks

POLICE have helped to break a $2.5bn Internet gambling operation. Detective Inspector Andy Domaille said its commercial fraud department had helped the US Department of Justice locate $7m. in gambling proceeds relating to an ongoing case of alleged money laundering.

'The American authorities wrote to the Law Officers here asking for assistance in obtaining information from Guernsey,' he added.

The department has charged William Scott and Jessica Davis and their companies with allegedly laundering gambling proceeds from Internet casino games and sporting events. It unsealed a file last week claiming that Mr Scott used a shell company called Soulbury Ltd to hide personal profits.

DI Domaille said that the $7m. had passed through Guernsey, but was not physically held in the island. His department served a notice on an island-based institution, seized its documents and carried out interviews. DI Domaille could not say which one was involved, but it had given police its full cooperation.

'Some are better than others. This one was no problem at all.'

Mr Scott and Miss Davis are accused of illegally enticing gamblers over an eight-year period to send funds for wagers from the US to the Caribbean island of Antigua.

The indictment alleges that gamblers violated US wire and travel acts by placing bets through toll-free telephone numbers and Internet sites run by WorldWide Telesports Inc. The pair allegedly obtained $2.5bn in unlawful proceeds and Scott is charged with failing to report foreign bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service.

The US Government is seeking $250m. through forfeiture.

The defendants were charged in a 1998 criminal complaint in the Southern District of New York District Court, following a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into alleged wire act violations for operating WorldWide Telesports.

The US Attorney General's Office contacted the Law Officers in 2003 and the police agreed to gather information between March and April of that year.

DI Domaille said that his department often carried out work for jurisdictions around the world.

'It is not unusual for people to come here and carry out investigations with us at the same time.'