This story was published more than 12 years ago.
Online gambling magnate and founder of Bodog Calvin Ayre has been indicted by the U.S. government on two charges along with three other Canadians.
The U.S. government is charging Ayre with conducting an illegal gambling business and money laundering conspiracy. The complaint alleges that Ayre conducted the illegal activity between June 2005 to January 2012 and comes a day after it was announced that the domain Bodog.com was seized by the feds.
The criminal indictment claims that Ayre, James Philip, David Ferguson, and Derrick Maloney worked together to supervise the Bodog Entertainment Group's operations during the period named in the indictment. The complaint goes on to detail the movement of funds from accounts in Switzerland, England, Malta, and Canada, as well as hiring media resellers to promote its Bodog internet gambling operation.
Prosecutors claim that Ayre and Bodog moved more than $100 million in sports gambling winnings by wire transfer and check to gamblers using processors in the U.S.
Speaking about the indictments on his website, Calvin Ayre issued a statement that reads: “I see this as abuse of the US criminal justice system for the commercial gain of large US corporations. It is clear that the online gaming industry is legal under international law and in the case of these documents is it also clear that the rule of law was not allowed to slow down a rush to try to win the war of public opinion.
These documents were filed with Forbes magazine before they were filed anywhere else and were drafted with the consumption of the media as a primary objective. We will all look at this and discuss the future with our advisors, but it will not stop my many business interests globally that are unrelated to anything in the US and it will not stop my many charity projects through my foundation. You can also follow this story here on the number one global online gaming news and entertainment site and the only site I will be doing interviews with for the next while…CalvinAyre.com”
The indictment can be read in whole at: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/321448-bodog-indictment.html
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Comments
Wow, this looks to be a big deal in terms of the U.S. putting a high profile online gambling executive in its cross hairs.
Why do you think they would come out and do this, and is the timing suspect?
What's even more disturbing is that Calvin had stopped all operations in the US one year ago and didn't even use the bodog.com domain name anymore.
I guess the government wants to put everybody in line before legalizing online gambling. Plus they are desperate for money 🙂
Disgusting and shameful. 😢
This is why Bodog changed their name to Bovada for U.S. players. They saw it coming. They have the Bovada domain, a .eu and a .co.uk, so this doesn't really achieve much other than giving the guy some more publicity. And as you can see from his statement, he knows how to promote himself!
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uh-oh... huge fines for big fish! but I don't think they'll really put him/them in prison maybe just house arrest on their lavish homes and the monitor ankle bracelets! 😀
Its not just that his domain was taken though, Ed. Ayre was indicted by the feds for money laundering conspiracy and running an illegal online gambling operation. That's prison time.
This may be more complicated than we can imagine. I just wonder why now? What is the point in this? You know that he is not going to go quietly. I am guessing a move to a country with no extradition treaty with the States.
Yes he was indicted, but he is not inside the USA, and he has been careful to avoid the country for years now. So I would be surprised if he is handed over to them any time soon as I am sure he has enough money and influence to make sure that does not happen.
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