Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre Indicted in US
The high profile global online gambling personality and founder of Bodog, Calvin Ayre, has been indicted by the federal grand jury in Baltimore, Maryland.
The charges include illegal sports betting and money laundering. Three other Canadians, James Philip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney, were indicted along with Ayre. The illegal sports betting and money laundering charges carry a prison term of 5 and 20 years respectively.
In a statement supporting the Calvin Ayre indictment, US Attorney Rod Rosenstein said that sports betting was illegal in Maryland and even online gambling sites operating from outside America were covered by federal law. Under US law financial institutions cannot process online gambling funds in any form. Though none of the indicted Canadians are in custody, warrants for their arrest have been issued and their extradition to the United States will be sought.
The indictment provided complete details of the Bodog operations that have been termed illegal. The operations cover a period from June 2005 to January 2012. Ayre and the others transferred funds from Bodog bank accounts in Switzerland, England, Malta and Canada to the United State to cover the winnings of players wagering at Bodog.com, and to pay media brokers and advertisers. The amount of the transferred funds has been conservatively estimated at $100 million.
Earlier, US authorities seized the online gambling site founded by Ayre, Bodog.com. The affidavit said that the online gambling web site employs several hundred people in Canada and Costa Rica. A message on the web site reads, "This domain name has been seized" under the official seals of the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security.
Calvin Ayre Responds to Indictment
Calvin Ayre has responded to the seizure and the indictment through his web site CalvinAyre.com. He said that the Bodog.com domain name was closed quite some time back in 2011 the brand itself was discontinued. Bodog.com was launched in 1994. Ayre operates other online gambling businesses and also carries out charity work. He said that none of this would be affected by the legal proceedings in the United States.
Ayre was almost vitriolic in his reaction. He claimed to a victim of "abuse
of the US criminal justice system for the commercial gain of large US
corporations".
He alleges that US authorities were so keen on going public on this matter, that
they did not follow the procedures required under US law. He has also accused US
authorities of leaking the indictment documents to the media before they were
filed. Ayre said that official responses to the indictment would be made after
consultations with Bodog advisors.
