USAO Seeks Billion-Dollar Forfeiture in Legendz Sports Indictment

11th April 2013 // Legal News, News

United States Attorney’s Office officials working out of the Western District of Oklahoma released a major sportsbetting indictment of the operators of Legendz Sports, alleging Legendz and several related sites, along with face-to-face bookmaking operations, to be a long-running and illegal operation.

The indictment centered on Houston’s Bartice Alan “Luke” King, who the USAO attorneys allege was the founder of the operation, which had an online home in Costa Rica and Panama for over at least a decade. The 95-page indictment indicates that Legendz (also known as Legends), may have been founded in 1996 as MVP Sports (one of several firms to use that name), before its operations were moved to Panama and the Legendz/Legends brands were established.

The indictment includes 34 individuals, including 26 Americans, primarily in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. The other eight individuals consist of seven Panamanian citizens alleged to be part of the various business operations connected to Legendz, plus 76-year Canadian David Gordon, who operated a US-facing online payment operation based in Colorado called Can-Am, LLC.

In addition to the 34 individuals named, 23 corporate entities were also charged, to be attached to the billion-dollar criminal forfeiture proceedings also included in the case. The USAO case alleges that the Legendz operation has grossed at least a billion dollars since 2003, and the indictment lists some 84 homes, properties, bank accounts and at least one Sabreliner private jet belonging to one of the indicted companies, all now being targeted for forfeiture.

Asset #84 in the indictment lists six corporate internet domains being used as active brands, which are also being targeted for seizure:

www.legendzsports.com
www.legends.com
www.thepig.com
www.danutz.com
www.4ibet.com
www.zmvp.com

The charges brought by the Western Oklahoma USAO office include all 34 individual defendants on three of the four counts, and could add up to 55 years in prison for any defendant found guilty, if maximum sentences were given to possible guilty defendants and ordered to be served consecutively.

The charges listed in the indictment are as follows:

Count 1: Racketeering Conspiracy
Count 2: Illegal Gambling Business
Count 3: Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
Counts 4 to 16: Money Laundering – Monetary Transactions

Three additional forfeiture allegations are detailed, wherein all the assets ties to Legendz officials and related companies are listed. All 57 individual and corporate defendants are listed for each of the forfeiture allegations:

Forfeiture Allegation 1: Racketeering Conspiracy Offense
Forfeiture Allegation 2: Illegal Gambling Business Offense
Forfeiture Allegation 3: Money Laundering Offenses

The indictment breaks down the 34 individual defendants into four basic groups: the executives and investors of Legendz and its related sites; the agents (bankers) who helped coordinate sportsbetting receipts and launder them to offshore locales, particularly Panama; the bookies, and the runners who physically accepted bets and relayed winnings to bettors.

The complete list of the defendants:

1. BARTICE ALAN KING (a/k/a “Luke” “Cool”) 42 Spring, TX
2. SERENA MONEEQUE KING 43 Spring, TX
3. SPIROS ATHANAS (a/k/a “The Greek”) 53 Gilford, NH
4. ROBERT JOSEPH ROLLY (a/k/a “Bob”) 79 Key West, FL
5. KASSANDRA BATES 43 Panama
(a/k/a “Sandra” “Sandra Teresita Vargas Farrier”)
6. WILLIAM JAMES BATES 59 Panama
(a/k/a “Bill” “Billy” “Wild Bill”)
7. EDWARD LOUIS BUONANNO 50 Spring, TX
(a/k/a “Gooch” “Bubbles”)
8. KORY ELWIN KORALEWSKI (a/k/a “Ski”) 42 Parker, CO
9. MAXIMILLIAN MCLAREN MANGUS (a/k/a “Max”) 34 Panama
10. MARIA ROJAS 36 Panama
(a/k/a “Mary North” “Mary Isabel Rojas Mata”)
11. ARTURO GARCIA JIMENEZ 41 Panama
12. RIGOBERTO NOLAN (a/k/a “Rigoberto Nolan Forbes”) 53 Panama
13. JAVIER ESPINOSA (a/k/a “Javier Espinosa Jimenez”) 37 Panama
14. DAVID GORDON 75 Canada
15. JAMES FRANKLIN ACKER, III, 54 Moore, OK
(a/k/a “Frank” “Frank The Bank”)
16. TERRY LEE CAMPBELL (a/k/a “Top Cat” “Gato”) 70 Lake Ozark, MO
17. RALPH GEORGE HERNANDEZ 73 Pleasanton, CA
(a/k/a “Georgie”“Rico”)18. DEREK EDWARD HEWITT (a/k/a “D”) 52 Altamonte Springs, FL
19. MICHAEL CASEY LAWHORN 47 Longwood, FL
(a/k/a “Fat Mikey” “Big Mike”)
20. JOSEPH MICHAEL MCFADDEN 56 Longwood, FL
(a/k/a “Joe” “Roll Tide”)
21. BRUCE LANDEN MIDDLEBROOK 44 Edmond, OK
(a/k/a “Jose” “Jose C”)
22. GREGORY WILSON ROBERTS (a/k/a “Patchman”) 54 Gadsden, AL
23. CHRISTOPHER LEE TANNER 56 Sarasota, FL
(a/k/a “CT” “Limo” “Tan” “Magic” )
24. PAUL FRANCIS TUCKER (a/k/a “Paul”) 48 Mount Dora, FL
25. ROBERT C. VANETTEN, JR. 51 Moore, OK
(a/k/a “Bob” “Fbobv” “Bingo Bob”)
26. ROBERT PAUL WILSON (a/k/a “Big Dog” “Cliff”) 65 Rancho Murieta, CA
27. LEON MARK MORAN, II 52 Kingsburg, CA
(a/k/a Makavelli” “Mastiff”)
28. NEIL JOHN MYLER (a/k/a “Bono”) 53 Houston, TX
29. LUIS ROBLES (a/k/a “Big Lou”) 48 St. Beach, FL
30. DAVID LYNN ROSS (a/k/a “OB” Obie”) 51 Choctaw, OK
31. JAMES LESTER ACKER (a/k/a “Les”) 30 Moore, OK
32. KELLY JAMES DORN 51 Oklahoma City, OK
33. TODD WILLIAM HOSS 47 Norman, OK
34. ROBERT ANTHONY LAY (a/k/a/ “Tony”) 48 Moore, OK
35. MAGNA TOURS, INC. Registered in Panama
36. DATA SUPPORT SERVICES, S.A. Registered in Panama
37. LEGENDZ GAMING CORP. Registered in Panama38. GRUPO LEGENDZ, S.A Registered in Panama
39. OMNI GROUP INTERNATIONAL CORP. Registered in Panama
40. GLOBAL DATA PAYMENT SERVICES, S.A. Registered in Panama
41. JR GROUP, INC. Registered in Panama
42. DSS INTERNATIONAL CORP. Registered in Panama
43. UDS INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE, INC. Registered in Panama
44. INVESTMENT CONSULTING SERVICES (ICS), S.A. Registered in Panama
45. OLMOS OVERSEAS, LTD. Registered in Panama
46. REGENCY COMMERCIAL LIMITADA Registered in Costa Rica
47. STARTING 5, LLC Registered in Texas
48. INTERNATIONAL GOLDSTORE CORP. Registered in Panama
49. TEN GRANDCHILDREN FOUNDATION _________________
50. DIGILUME, INC. Registered in Panama
51 PROGRAM ADVISORS, INC. Registered in Panama
52. ZAPT ELECTRICAL SALES, INC. Registered in Florida
53. PLPA AND ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered in Florida
54. CAN-AM, LLC Registered in Colorado
55. ZIMA HOLDINGS, LLC Registered in Texas
56. 6 MONKEYS S. DE R. L Registered in Belize
57. STARLINK INVESTISSEMENTS, INC. Registered in Panama

Legendz accepted bets online, via telephone, and face-to-face via its agent/bookie/runner network, which spanned much of the southern US. The investigation included the FBI, USAO attorneys and investigators, the IRS, the US Immigration Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Said Jim Finch, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office, “Individuals cannot skirt the laws of the United States by setting up illegal internet gambling operations in a foreign country, while living in the United States and enjoying all the benefits of U.S. citizens. The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to be diligent in investigating such violations of federal law.”