The Antigua and Barbuda Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) has
announced that it is assisting and supervising BoS (Antigua) Ltd (BOS), the
operator of the BetonSports family of remote gaming products, in the process of
the collection of funds owed to BOS and the onward payment of collected amounts
to BOS creditors and employees.
In a statement, BetonSports said that the process has been implemented under
the supervisory authority given to the FSRC, in order to give extra reassurance
to organisations that funds returned will be properly used in the settlement
of creditors in line with legal requirements, as well as ensuring that BOS creditors
will be paid in a fair and balanced manner.
Presently, BOS has been unable to repay customers due to cash-flow constraints,
along with legal and operational interruptions. A substantial amount of monies
owed to BOS by payment processors and publishers have not been repaid, and it
is anticipated that the oversight of the process by the Commission will give
these organisations the transparency and reassurance they are seeking in order
to return funds, so they may be distributed appropriately. The Commission, under
an order received by the Eastern Caribbean High Court of Justice, will manage
and supervise all funds remitted. The Commission and BOS Directors will be communicating
with all account debtors directly. After evaluating, and verifying the obligations
to creditors of BOS, these funds will then be paid in the legally prescribed
order by the Commission.
Kaye McDonald, Director of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission, Division
of Gaming noted: “We are pleased with the agreement of BOS’s Directors
to cooperate with Antiguan and Barbudan authorities to ensure the proper discharge
of creditors, namely players and employees in this difficult case. As regulators,
it is our responsibility to ensure that licensees operate properly at all times
even under adverse conditions. We expect that our involvement and the cooperation
of BOS will encourage the prompt payment of amounts owed to BOS by payment processors
and others, so that funds can be promptly returned knowing that they will be
distributed properly.”
McDonald added: “We expect BOS debtors to cooperate with the process,
and I am sure BOS is prepared to use all legal remedies available, to ensure
that they do so.”
Director of BOS, Clive Archer, added: “We are pleased to be working
with the FSRC to ensure that customers, staff and other creditors receive the
money they are owed. We have been hampered by the slow return of funds owed
to us and we hope that this process will give debtors the reassurance they need
to swiftly pay, so that our creditors including our customers and staff can
be paid. It is extremely sad that such a great business has been destroyed in
this fashion but we are committed to ensuring to the best of our ability that
it ends properly."
Archer concluded: "We are happy to cooperate with the supportive staff
of the FSRC and believe that they are best suited, as the regulatory authority
to ensure that all are treated fairly. We know that the business is all about
customers and staff and we want to ensure they are properly looked after.”
An US court order has banned Betonsports from operating in the United States. "The
defendant has no legally recognizable right to operate in the United States,"
wrote the judge. However, the agreement permits the company to refund stakes
placed by US players; originally the Justice Department had wanted to seize
those funds.
BetonSports and 12 individuals still face criminal charges including racketeering,
mail fraud and facilitation of gambling across state and national boundaries.
Trading of BetonSports stock in London was suspended in July 2006 at the company's
request. The company ran its US Internet business from Costa Rica and Antigua.
Founder Gary Kaplan and British CEO David Carruthers are among those indicted.
Carruthers, 48, was arrested last July as he changed planes in a Dallas airport.
At a hearing in August, Carruthers pleaded not guilty to the charges of fraud
and racketeering in St Louis. Under the terms of a bail agreement negotiated
between defense lawyers and prosecutors, Carruthers was bailed under a $1 million
bond and is under house arrest in the vicinity of St Louis. An arrest warrant
was also issued for Gary Kaplan. The indictments seek forfeiture of $4.5 billion
from Kaplan and the other defendants.