After more than a decade as a fugitive, the co-founder of Antigua-based World Sports Exchange returned to the U.S. to plead guilty to gambling conspiracy charges.
Haden Ware entered the plea to a conspiracy charge in Manhattan federal court, a day after arriving in New York City from Antigua, according to the Associated Press.
Ware had been evading the charge since an indictment was returned in 2002, accusing him and two others of operating a sports betting business, World Sports Exchange, since at least 1996, when the business started, through 1998, according to the AP.
“I took wagers over the Internet and over interstate lines,” Ware told U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for six months to one year in prison, but Ware’s lawyer said he will argue against any prison time at Ware’s May 9 sentencing. Ware is free on $150,000 bail.
Jim Henderson, a Santa Monica, California, attorney who represented Ware told the court Ware was “no big shot” and it was obvious why he returned to the United States.
“Who wants to be an international fugitive?” the lawyer asked.
Jay Cohen, a co-defendant in the case, served over a year in prison after a federal appeals court in Manhattan rejected his claim that he did not break the law because his business was based in Antigua, where betting is legal, the AP reported.
The case was one of the first prosecuted under the U.S. Wire Wager Act.
