This was the week that David Carruthers's luck ran out. The British boss of BetonSports, a gambling firm listed in London, liked to boast that he travelled frequently to America and that he did not worry about getting arrested there, even though the country has outlawed his company's business-taking wagers on sporting events by phone and online. He should have known better. On July 16th, while changing planes in Texas, en route from London to Costa Rica, he was arrested by federal officials. The next day he was charged, along with 10 other people and four firms, with conspiracy and fraud relating to online gaming. BetonSports has since shut down 85% of its business. The surprise, says John Carroll, a lawyer at Clifford Chance in New York, is that Mr Car-ruthers evaded detention in America for so long. "I certainly wouldn't have told him it was prudent to travel to the us," he says. "The law is unambiguously clear."
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