Costa Rican Raids: A History Question

[j]

I came across this in Buzz Daly's column the other day:

Two years ago the feds pulled a surprise move on several islands and in Costa Rica, the result was several well regarded, established books were shut down.

My question is, what exactly happened? Did U.S. agents burst into these offices and arrest everyone working there? Did Tican police do it? Did the American employees get deported? Did they have to pay fines? Did they have their passports revoked?

I like to think of these places as having the protection of the governments who host them, but it's pretty clear even from what's happening on Antigua that there's really no such thing as a friendly government and the books will be squeezed when they get big enough to make it worth somebody's while.

But that's just an editorial comment. I really would like to know from anybody who has information exactly what Buzz is referring to, and especially about the fate of the principals and American employees.

[ShiftySheik]

The feds issued warrants for the arrest of several offshore operators. It was up to the individuals to return to the states to answer to the charges. Some plea bargained, some ignored them and stayed offshore. Jay Cohen was the only one to fight the charges. SDB Global and Winners Way shut down. Real Casino shut down without paying their clients.

[reno]

Winner's Way did not shut down. They operated out of the Dominican Republic, and then went to Antigua. Because the owner, a guy named Tommy had to do time in the U.S. for a domestic bookmaking charge, an incompetent guy named Sonny took over. He changed the name of the book to Tropical, but with him in charge the book floundered. Thankfully, they were taken over by CRIS, so I didn't get stiffed. Naturally, they never told anyone, so I'm sure plenty of people just figured they went under, and hence those people did get stiffed. If I didn't have connections I would have never known what happened, and my money would have disappeared. I had to call a guy at CRIS named Mike, who had come over from Winner's Way (Tropical). And because he knew I could create a real stink, my account was transferred without a glitch.

[sportshobby]

Funny thing, I was chased from WW for only taking the juicy numbers, and at the time I was aggravated by it (being chased).