Richard Sullivan, 73, of st. John’s, Antigua, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston in August 2010 on charges of racketeering (RICO), operating an illegal gambling business, transmitting betting information, laundering money and aiding blackmail. Sullivan was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on August 20, 2023, while going through customs on his return to the United States from Antigua. Sullivan was indicted in the Eastern District of New York on August 21, 2023, and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
The prosecution is one of the first cases in which individuals have been charged with violating the Illegal Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), and the first in Massachusetts. The UIGEA Act was enacted in 2006 to prevent the use of the U.S. banking system to pay off Internet gambling debts incurred by U.S. citizens. Sullivan and his co-defendants have been charged with more than 75 counts of engaging in U.S. bank transactions involving U.S.-based gamblers to pay off gambling debts owed to Sports Offshore.
Sullivan and his co-conspirators, Todd Lyons, Robert Eremian and Daniel Eremian, ran an Antiga-licensed online gambling site, Sports Offshore, and engaged in illegal gambling businesses from Massachusetts to Florida in the U.S., according to the indictment. Sports Offshore claims to have used an Internet site registered with Antiga and toll-free telephone lines to serve U.S. customers. The ring also reportedly hired about 50 gambling agents in the United States, who recruited hundreds of customers and collected gambling debt to deliver illegal gambling proceeds to Antigua.
Sullivan and his co-conspirators say they created numerous fictitious organizations with no legitimate business purpose to hide the plot, laundering proceeds from illegal gambling businesses so that authorities could not detect U.S.-based financial transactions involving sports offshoring.
Sullivan is known to have managed the daily activities of sports offshoring at his gambling office in St John’s, Antigua. In that capacity, Sullivan reportedly oversaw approximately 30-50 employees who accepted bets made by customers in the U.S. over the phone and over the Internet. Sullivan is alleged to have directed collection activities for clients owed to Sports Offshore and agents located in the United States. Sullivan is also known to have acted as an agent for Sports Offshore in that he was responsible for a group of Massachusetts customers who gambled with Sports Offshore and earned commissions for gambling losses incurred by those customers. Sullivan also claims to have raised money from Massachusetts customers who used individuals living in Massachusetts to ship directly to Antigua via mail.
Sullivan and his co-conspirators reportedly raised more than $22 million for sports offshore through illegal gambling operations and laundered more than $10 million in checks and remittances.
In December 2011, Lyons and Daniel Eremian were convicted following a five-week jury for their roles in the conspiracy. Lyons was sentenced to four years in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $24.6 million. Daniel Eremian was sentenced to three years in prison, one year of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $7.7 million.
The racketeering charge carries up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of operating an illegal gambling business carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to two years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. The Betting Information Transfer charge carries a sentence of up to two years in prison, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The money laundering charge carries up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000. The cross-country travel charge, which helps blackmail, imposes up to five years in prison, up to two years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Federal District Court judges impose sentences based on U.S. sentencing guidelines and statutes governing the decision of sentence in criminal cases.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy, special agent for the IRS at the Boston Field Office, Harry Chavis, Jr., Brian Keyes, Massachusetts District of Massachusetts, Jr., made the announcement today. The Eastern New York District Attorney’s office and Essex County District Attorney’s office provided valuable help.