ONE OF the biggest share floats in London in years has been overshadowed by the news that US m?learned friends for the prosecution want to lock up the four men behind the plan.
PartyGaming, is a hugely profitable poker website, is expected to be valued at £4.76 billion pounds when it floats on the British stockmarket later this month.
Involved in the plan are Ruth Parasol, the daughter of a former San Francisco massage parlour tycoon, her hubbie James Russell DeLeon and their partners, Indian computing experts Anurag Dikshit and Vikrant Bhargava.
However. the US Justice Department, while admitting they have not got a hope in hell of getting a UK court to convict the four, say that they could be prosecuted and, if convicted, jailed for years in America. According to the Grauniad yesterday, the four might not want to be taking any US holidays ever.
According to the department, all four would face prosecution under three federal statutes: the Interstate Wire Act, the Illegal Gambling Business Act and the Travel Act. These carry penalties of between two and five years' imprisonment for each offence.
"If they're taking bets in the UK, and it's legal there, that's fine; but if they're taking bets in the United States, that's illegal, and they will be prosecuted," a Justice Department spokesman is reckoned to have said. But hang on a minute. If the US .gov wants them that bad, and if they're not UK citizens, why don't we just deport them to the Land of the not necessarily everything is Free? µ
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24012