Ex Betonsports’ CEO Carruthers gets 33-month sentence

US District Judge Carol E. Jackson sentenced Carruthers at a hearing in St. Louis. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy.

Carruthers was Chief Executive Officer of the London-based Internet gambling business when he and ten other people including founder Gary S. Kaplan were indicted by a grand jury for violating federal laws banning the placement of wagers by wire in 2006.

“I understand now that the business was operating outside the laws of the United States,” Carruthers said in a statement he read in court. “I realize I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

He apologized to employees, customers, investors and his family. “I am sorry for the actions of Betonsports and the trouble it caused,” he said.

Carruthers’ attorney, Scott Rosenblum, had asked the judge for a shorter sentence since Carruthers was incarcerated for 32 days and was under house confinement for three years and five months.

“I believe your apology and remorse, but I know at some point you learned that this endeavor was illegal,” Jackson told Carruthers in court. “I don’t think you thought it was a grey area. I think you knew there would be ramifications for your conduct.”

Betonsports took in us$ 1.25 billion in 2004, with 98 percent of that revenue coming from bets made through its Web site by US-based clients, according to court papers.

Betonsports suspended trading of its shares on the London Stock Exchange on July 18, 2006, a day after the indictment was unsealed. The company filed for liquidation and, in May 2007, through its attorney also pleaded guilty to a racketeering- related charge.

Carruthers was arrested in July 2006 as he changed planes at a Dallas-area airport.