The four Internet wheels bringing PartyGaming to its initial public offering in Britain later in June are also four the U.S. Justice Department would love to arrest, according to a published report.
Former adult Internet mavens Ruth Parasol and her husband James Russell DeLeon, and their partners from India, Anurag Dikshit and Vikrant Bhargava, have been threatened with arrest the moment PartyGaming is spotted taking any American-based bets, according to the British newspaper the Inquirer.
"If they're taking bets in the UK, and it's legal there, that's fine," the paper quoted an unnamed Justice official as saying. "But if they're taking bets in the United States, that's illegal, and they will be prosecuted."
The foursome in that instance would be prosecuted under the U.S. Interstate Wire Act, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, and the Travel Act, with penalties between two and five years behind bars for each if convicted, the paper added.
Parasol, DeLeon, Dikshit, and Bhargava announced late in May that they would take PartyGaming public during June, in an IPO believed to be worth over $2 billion.
