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ST. LOUIS (AP)--Former online gambling executive David Carruthers was freed
on $1 million bond Wednesday after spending nearly a month behind bars
following his arrest on racketeering and fraud charges.
The charges against Carruthers are part of a 22-count indictment against
London-based BetOnSports PLC (BSS.LN) being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney
Catherine Hanaway in St. Louis. Carruthers was chief executive of the company
until shortly after his arrest, when he was fired.
Carruthers, 48, was freed after a hearing before U.S. District Judge Mary
Ann Medler. He had been expected to be released as early as Monday but it took
days to work out technical details. Among those details: a dedicated phone
line had to be installed at the residence where he will stay.
Carruthers must remain in the St. Louis area until his trial. According to
his terms of his bond, Carruthers will live at a hotel in the suburb Clayton.
He won't be allowed to leave the hotel except for court appearances, meetings
with his attorney or medical emergencies.
During the hearing, Carruthers asked the judge if the home-incarceration was
24 hours a day. She said it was.
The case is one of the largest U.S. prosecutions of an online gambling
company and has caused BetOnSports to close all of its U.S.-focused
operations. It has caught the attention of the online gambling industry.
Federal prosecutors insisted that none of Carruthers' bond money come from
the treasury of BetOnSports, according to his attorney, Scott Rosenblum. He
wouldn't say how Carruthers came up with the full payment, but said all the
money was raised through legal means.
Hanaway said she will continue to prosecute the case against BetOnSports
regardless of the company's decision to close its offices and stop accepting
U.S.-based bets. She said the move doesn't absolve the company from allegedly
taking illegal bets in the past.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-16-06 1149ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.