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Gold Medal Sports Article
Scamdicapper Jeff Allen gets Stung
A Wisconsin man and a Nevada resident pleaded guilty Monday to gambling
charges stemming from their offshore sports bookmaking operation, which took
in $402.7 million in illegal wagers by phone and through the Internet.
Federal prosecutors said they have prosecuted similar gambling cases in St.
Louis and New York City, but "not of this magnitude." Duane Pede, 53, of
Amherst Junction, and Jeffrey D'Ambrosia (Jeff Allen), 43, of Henderson,
Nev., told U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb they owned Gold Medal Sports,
which was incorporated on the island of Curacao in the Dutch Netherland
Antilles in August 1996. The gambling operation lasted to April 2000. "I was
the owner of an international sports book, the purpose of which was
accepting betting information from customers in the United States," Pede
told Crabb. "They would call our office in Curacao and their winnings would
be sent back to the United States." Said D'Ambrosia, "We started an offshore
gaming company in Curacao and accepted wagers from U.S. citizens."
Gold Medal Sports, their corporation, pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering
and agreed to forfeit more than $3.3 million in illegal earnings, while Pede
and D'Ambrosia, who also is known as Jeff Allen, will pay more than $1.4
million in back taxes. Gold Medal Sports also must publish a disclaimer in
USA Today newspaper, disavowing claims of inside information in its sports
handicapping services. "Sports gambling is illegal everywhere in the United
States except Las Vegas, whether it's on the Internet, at your neighborhood
tavern or an offshore book," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim O'Shea said after
the hearing. "That's one of the biggest reasons this case was brought, to
drive that point home." O'Shea added, "Internet sports gaming sites say,
'legal, legal, legal.' The point of this case is to say it's not legal. It's
a crime." Pede and D'Ambrosia's customers came from all over the United
States, O'Shea said.
Pede and D'Ambrosia were released on their own recognizance. They will be
sentenced Feb. 26.
Pede and D'Ambrosia pleaded guilty to violating the Wire Wagering Act, for
which they face a maximum penalty of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine
and a one-year term of supervised release. Each man also pleaded guilty to
filing a false 1998 federal income tax return, for which they face up to
three years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised
release. As part of their plea agreement, Pede and D'Ambrosia will cooperate
with authorities in any other gambling cases, pay the maximum fine and pay
$1,429,565 in back taxes.
O'Shea and lead prosecutor Dan Graber said that through Gold Medal Sports
the men mailed brochures to U.S. residents advertising the corporation's
sports book services and soliciting wagers to be made via calls to Curacao.
The brochures were published by a company owned by Pede and D'Ambrosia. The
brochures often went out in tandem with mailings from Stevens Point for one
of four handicapper services: Jeff Allen Sports, Mike Wynn Sports, Razor
Sharp Sports and Dan Pastorini Sports, also owned by Pede and D'Ambrosia.
But Mike Wynn and Sam Sharp were fictitious people, and the "picks"
attributed to them actually were made by the defendants, the government said
in a criminal information.
Former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini, who played for the then-Los Angeles
Raiders and the Houston Oilers, was paid by one of the defendants' companies
to pose for pictures and make some radio appearances but was never involved
in any sports handicapping, it said. "They falsely depicted Dan Pastorini as
a source of information for winning picks because of his network of contacts
in the NFL and sporting world," it said.
Their sports-betting empire began to totter on Oct. 27, 1999, when an
Internal Revenue Service agent placed a sports wager over the phone from
Beloit to Curacao for $1,000. The agent bet that the Green Bay Packers would
beat the Seattle Seahawks by more than five points on Nov. 1, 1999. Under
the Wire Wagering Act, it is a felony to operate a gambling business and
accept sports wagers over the phone or Internet from U.S. customers. The
criminal information against Gold Medal Sports alleged that Pede and
D'Ambrosia owned another company, Sports Spectrum, which had offices in Las
Vegas, where D'Ambrosia worked, and in Nelsonville, Wis., where Pede worked.
For a fee, Sports Spectrum allegedly provided up-to-the-minute betting lines
for sporting events over the phone and sold guaranteed winning picks on
events over the phone using one of the four handicapper services. It also
allegedly offered sports betting and online casino gambling through Gold
Medal Sports and yet another company, called Seven Palms Casino. Sports
Spectrum allegedly supplied Internet access through still another company,
Sports Spectrum Internet Services. "Bettors need to know it is against the
law to place sports bets with offshore sports books," U.S. Attorney Grant
Johnson said.
A Wisconsin man and a Nevada resident pleaded guilty Monday to gambling
charges stemming from their offshore sports bookmaking operation, which took
in $402.7 million in illegal wagers by phone and through the Internet.
Federal prosecutors said they have prosecuted similar gambling cases in St.
Louis and New York City, but "not of this magnitude." Duane Pede, 53, of
Amherst Junction, and Jeffrey D'Ambrosia (Jeff Allen), 43, of Henderson,
Nev., told U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb they owned Gold Medal Sports,
which was incorporated on the island of Curacao in the Dutch Netherland
Antilles in August 1996. The gambling operation lasted to April 2000. "I was
the owner of an international sports book, the purpose of which was
accepting betting information from customers in the United States," Pede
told Crabb. "They would call our office in Curacao and their winnings would
be sent back to the United States." Said D'Ambrosia, "We started an offshore
gaming company in Curacao and accepted wagers from U.S. citizens."
Gold Medal Sports, their corporation, pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering
and agreed to forfeit more than $3.3 million in illegal earnings, while Pede
and D'Ambrosia, who also is known as Jeff Allen, will pay more than $1.4
million in back taxes. Gold Medal Sports also must publish a disclaimer in
USA Today newspaper, disavowing claims of inside information in its sports
handicapping services. "Sports gambling is illegal everywhere in the United
States except Las Vegas, whether it's on the Internet, at your neighborhood
tavern or an offshore book," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim O'Shea said after
the hearing. "That's one of the biggest reasons this case was brought, to
drive that point home." O'Shea added, "Internet sports gaming sites say,
'legal, legal, legal.' The point of this case is to say it's not legal. It's
a crime." Pede and D'Ambrosia's customers came from all over the United
States, O'Shea said.
Pede and D'Ambrosia were released on their own recognizance. They will be
sentenced Feb. 26.
Pede and D'Ambrosia pleaded guilty to violating the Wire Wagering Act, for
which they face a maximum penalty of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine
and a one-year term of supervised release. Each man also pleaded guilty to
filing a false 1998 federal income tax return, for which they face up to
three years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised
release. As part of their plea agreement, Pede and D'Ambrosia will cooperate
with authorities in any other gambling cases, pay the maximum fine and pay
$1,429,565 in back taxes.
O'Shea and lead prosecutor Dan Graber said that through Gold Medal Sports
the men mailed brochures to U.S. residents advertising the corporation's
sports book services and soliciting wagers to be made via calls to Curacao.
The brochures were published by a company owned by Pede and D'Ambrosia. The
brochures often went out in tandem with mailings from Stevens Point for one
of four handicapper services: Jeff Allen Sports, Mike Wynn Sports, Razor
Sharp Sports and Dan Pastorini Sports, also owned by Pede and D'Ambrosia.
But Mike Wynn and Sam Sharp were fictitious people, and the "picks"
attributed to them actually were made by the defendants, the government said
in a criminal information.
Former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini, who played for the then-Los Angeles
Raiders and the Houston Oilers, was paid by one of the defendants' companies
to pose for pictures and make some radio appearances but was never involved
in any sports handicapping, it said. "They falsely depicted Dan Pastorini as
a source of information for winning picks because of his network of contacts
in the NFL and sporting world," it said.
Their sports-betting empire began to totter on Oct. 27, 1999, when an
Internal Revenue Service agent placed a sports wager over the phone from
Beloit to Curacao for $1,000. The agent bet that the Green Bay Packers would
beat the Seattle Seahawks by more than five points on Nov. 1, 1999. Under
the Wire Wagering Act, it is a felony to operate a gambling business and
accept sports wagers over the phone or Internet from U.S. customers. The
criminal information against Gold Medal Sports alleged that Pede and
D'Ambrosia owned another company, Sports Spectrum, which had offices in Las
Vegas, where D'Ambrosia worked, and in Nelsonville, Wis., where Pede worked.
For a fee, Sports Spectrum allegedly provided up-to-the-minute betting lines
for sporting events over the phone and sold guaranteed winning picks on
events over the phone using one of the four handicapper services. It also
allegedly offered sports betting and online casino gambling through Gold
Medal Sports and yet another company, called Seven Palms Casino. Sports
Spectrum allegedly supplied Internet access through still another company,
Sports Spectrum Internet Services. "Bettors need to know it is against the
law to place sports bets with offshore sports books," U.S. Attorney Grant
Johnson said.
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