The United States Attorney’s office said seventy-three-year-old Richard Sullivan, was arrested last Sunday, August 20, 2023, at JFK Airport in New York coming back from Antigua.
The man who is said to be Antiguan, is now behind bars after thirteen years of evading prosecution in connection with his involvement in a large-scale illegal gambling operation that spanned across the United States.
Sullivan was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston back in August 2010, facing a slew of charges including racketeering, operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering, transmission of wagering information, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. He was part of a group of four men who were charged, marking one of the first instances individuals were held accountable for violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in the US.
According to the charges, Sullivan and his associates, Todd Lyons, Robert Eremian, and Daniel Eremian, operated Sports Offshore, an online gambling site licensed in Antigua. Despite its licensing, the operation was conducted within the United States with illegal gambling business from Massachusetts to Florida. The group utilised an Antiguan internet site and toll-free telephone lines to cater to US customers.
Allegedly, the ring employed around fifty gambling agents within the US to solicit customers and collect gambling debts who then funnelled the proceeds to Antigua. To avoid being caught, Sullivan and his associates made up fake companies to clean the money they made from the illegal gambling, and then hide the money trail in US finances.
Sullivan purportedly managed the daily operations of Sports Offshore from his base in St John’s, Antigua. He supervised a team of employees who would accept the wagers placed over the telephone and internet by US customers. Moreover, he allegedly directed collection efforts for customers and agents in the United States who owed money to Sports Offshore.
Sullivan and his partners collected over twenty-two million through the illegal gambling operation. He and his partners are also accused of cleaning more than $10 million in checks and transfers. Two of the people he worked with, Lyons and Daniel Eremian, were found guilty in 2011 and got long prison terms and lost millions of dollars.
Sullivan was charged in the Eastern District of New York on August 21, 2023, and will soon appear in federal court in Boston.
