PartyGaming Founder Dikshit Pleads Guilty to Internet Gambling
By Erik Larson
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- PartyGaming Plc’s founder and former director, Anurag Dikshit, pleaded guilty to illegal Internet gambling and agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Justice Department in an investigation of the Web-based gaming company.
Dikshit, 37, the biggest shareholder of Gibraltar-based PartyGaming, entered the plea to one count of online gambling today in federal court in Manhattan and agreed to forfeit $300 million.
“I came to believe it was in fact illegal under U.S. law,” Dikshit told U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, referring to PartyGaming’s activities.
The company probably won’t plead guilty as a result of talks with the Justice Department, it said in a statement earlier today. Federal authorities are examining the company’s past activities in the U.S., where offshore Web gaming is illegal.
Discussions began last year as industry concern spread about possible legal action against companies that took bets from Americans before a crackdown on Web gaming.
By Erik Larson
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- PartyGaming Plc’s founder and former director, Anurag Dikshit, pleaded guilty to illegal Internet gambling and agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Justice Department in an investigation of the Web-based gaming company.
Dikshit, 37, the biggest shareholder of Gibraltar-based PartyGaming, entered the plea to one count of online gambling today in federal court in Manhattan and agreed to forfeit $300 million.
“I came to believe it was in fact illegal under U.S. law,” Dikshit told U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, referring to PartyGaming’s activities.
The company probably won’t plead guilty as a result of talks with the Justice Department, it said in a statement earlier today. Federal authorities are examining the company’s past activities in the U.S., where offshore Web gaming is illegal.
Discussions began last year as industry concern spread about possible legal action against companies that took bets from Americans before a crackdown on Web gaming.
