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Sportsbook Shuts Down
Web Site Following CEO's Arrest
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Frequent visitors to the sports gambling Web site BetonSports.com may have been surprised yesterday to discover that the site's usual home page had been replaced with a message explaining that “in light of court papers filed in the United States, the company has temporarily suspended this facility pending its ability to assess its full position.”
This comes three days after BetonSports' Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Carruthers, a British citizen, was arrested by U.S. authorities at the Dallas airport. Carruthers, along with 10 other people, is being charged with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a statement from the department.
BetonSports' founder Gary Kaplan is also in custody and being charged with 20 felony violations of federal laws and failing to pay federal wagering excise taxes on more than $3.3 billion in wagers taken from the United States. The U.S. government is seeking forfeiture of $4.5 billion from Kaplan and his associates, the statement said.
BetonSports investor relations advisor Ginny Pulbrook told The Tico Times in a phone interview from London that Carruthers' arrest came as “a complete and utter surprise” to the company, which is appealing his arrest.
Costa Rican Internet gambling insiders say they are also surprised by the U.S.'s action, considering that BetonSports is registered in England and operates a call center employing more than 1,500 people in Costa Rica.
Still, Eduardo Agami, president of the Costa Rican Call Centers and Electronic Data Association, said “ I'd be hard pressed to think it will be enough to shut them down.”
Despite the Web site not functioning, employees reported to work as normal yesterday at BetonSports' offices, which occupy the top four floors of the San Pedro Mall, east of San José.
The Costa Rican office has not made any official statements or responded to questions about Carruthers' arrest.
See Friday's print or pdf edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.
Sharks Tagged at Expedition At Isla del Cocos
Divers and researchers from Costa Rica, the United Kingdom and the United States are conducting research on sharks in the waters around Isla del Coco, an island off the Pacific port of Puntarenas, according to a statement from the Marine Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA).
From July 3-15, research teams tagged 15 hammerhead sharks to determine their regional migration routes, and 10 others were tagged with acoustic radio transmitters to study their movement around the island.
This trip was the fourth in a series of seven that are part of a joint research project between the U.S. Shark Research Institute and PRETOMA, based in Costa Rica. The Isla del Coco expedition was funded by the two British organizations, the Joint Services Expedition Trust Committee and the Royal Geographic Society, the statement said.
Two of the sharks' satellite tags are programmed to collect data for four months, two for two months and two for 10 days. The 10 sharks tagged with radio transmitters are expected to transmit radio signals for one year.
All of the sharks tagged are adult females three to four meters long. They were tagged at depths ranging from 20 to 35 meters.
“Isla del Coco is one of the most important habitats for sharks in the world,” said PRETOMA president Randall Arauz. “Determining sharks' movements around the island as well as where they are migrating will help in creating policies to protect them and foster the development of sustainable fisheries of this important resource.”
-Tico Times
Costa Rica to Promote Its Coffee In Japan
Costa Rican coffees will be promoted in Japan in August during an annual fair organized by the Costa Rican Fine Coffees Association, according to a statement from the National Coffee Institute (ICAFE).
The fair is scheduled to take place Aug. 7-9 in Tokyo , and Costa Rican representatives from the institute and coffee producers will present their products.
Costa Rican coffee will be displayed at a pavilion where visitors will be able to sample coffee from the country's seven coffee-producing zones and get information about the Costa Rican coffee production process, the statement said.
Additionally, gourmet Costa Rican coffee will be presented to Japanese importers with the goal of increasing exports there.
Representatives from various Japanese organizations including the Japanese Roasters' Association, foundations, banks and cooperation agencies plan to attend the fair.
-ACAN-EFE
Foreign Minister Says Nicaragua's Complaints
Before Human Rights Commission are “Sensationalist”
Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said yesterday that the complaints of xenophobia and discrimination Nicaragua presented against Costa Rica before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission Tuesday are “sensationalist.” Nicaragua made these complaints over the death of two Nicaraguan citizens.
“These complaints are not classified in the commission's system. We're in an unprecedented situation,” Stagno said at a press conference.
The commission heard Nicaragua 's complaints Tuesday over the case of Natividad Canda, who was attacked by a dog in November 2005 while attempting to enter a Costa Rican warehouse. He later died from his wounds (TT, Nov. 10, 2005). Eight police officers and firefighters saw the attack and could have prevented Canda's death by shooting the dog, Nicaraguan representatives said. The case remains under investigation in Costa Rica.
They also presented the case of José Ariel Silva, who was lynched to death by a group of Costa Ricans last December.
Stagno said both cases are “isolated” and “in no way can be interpreted as xenophobia or discrimination by Costa Rica ,” as Nicaragua has claimed before the commission.
Costa Rica has an “impeccable” record of respecting human rights and offering support and refuge to people of various nationalities, Stagno said, proposing that the two countries forge a friendship.
-ACAN-EFE
McConaughey Gets Down in C.R.
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Confirming his status as one of Star Watch’s most talked-about stars, actor Matthew McConaughey surfed, rafted, sang and danced his way through a Costa Rican vacation late last month. The curly-haired Texan told a reporter upon his arrival that he wanted privacy, but his exploits made headlines throughout his stay – first on the Caribbean coast near the beach town of Puerto Viejo, then during a river trip on the Pacuare (documented by a photographer from the daily La Nación), and then in Santa Teresa de Malpaís on the southern Nicoya Peninsula. Mending a broken heart after his breakup with Spanish actress Penelope Cruz? Not by the looks of things. Wendy Angulo, owner of the Mar Azul bar in Malpaís, said McConaughey dropped by June 30 at 9 p.m. and danced the night away until 2:30 or 3 a.m., taking to the dance floor with the friends traveling with him as well as women in the bar, more than happy to take People magazine’s 2005 Sexiest Man Alive for a spin.
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McConaughey |
• Sometimes celebrity news here is as much about who’s rumored to be in Costa Rica, but isn’t, as it is about who actually makes the scene. McConaughey was incorrectly rumored to be on vacation here in January, and the same appears to have happened last week with Australian Oscar winner Nicole Kidman. Though Radio Dos reported Kidman, married June 25 to country singer Keith Urban, was headed here for her honeymoon, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reports they spent their post-nuptial days at the St. Regis resort on Bora Bora.
Maybe the star of “The Hours” and “Moulin Rouge” didn’t fancy a run-in with President Oscar Arias, who has publicly declared his admiration for Kidman on various occasions. Local dailies didn’t hesitate to rib Arias on the actress’s marriage; Al Día’s headline read, “¡Se le fue al Presidente!” (roughly translated, “She got away from the President!”).
• Some stars of Costa Rica’s political scene were on display at a U.S. Embassy lunch July 3 to celebrate Independence Day. Second Vice-President Kevin Casas and Foreign Relations Minister Bruno Stagno were among the leaders, from Cabinet members to legislators, who shared a menu including Tex-Mex favorites – perhaps in honor of U.S. Ambassador Mark Langdale, who, like his friend and Commander in Chief, hails from Texas – along with red and white wine. Guests were subject to tight security, correspondent Amanda Roberson told Star Watch.
• The return of the National Soccer Team from the World Cup in Germany – empty-handed, except for two goals against host and eventual semifinalist Germany by star forward Paulo César Wanchope – brought some famous faces to Juan Santamaría International Airport June 21. Former Miss Costa Rica Nancy Soto waited for her boyfriend, Alvaro Saborío, though, according to Al Día, the star player walked right by her, perhaps because of the angry reception some disappointed fans gave the team (TT, June 23).
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