BROTHERS PLEAD GUILTY IN KANSAS CITY ONLINE GAMBLING CASE

2/20/10 – The Kansas City Grand Jury probe into online gambling, which has already seen two men in their twenties plead guilty  has brought a further two Kansas men to court.
 
Two brothers pleaded guilty in federal court this week to operating an illegal sports gambling operation.
 
Michael C. and Anthony V. Sansone, aged 30 and 27 respectively, appeared together in federal court to confess their roles in an Internet sports betting operation that has been the focus of a federal investigation for at least a year.
 
The brothers admitted that they operated a betting business that used a toll-free telephone number and Web site, both routed to a wire room in Costa Rica, to process illegal wagers on sporting events.
 
The investigation went public on March 31, when federal agents launched a series of raids that collected computers and notebooks, prosecutors said. During the ensuing investigation, almost a dozen other people, some merely patrons of the betting business, refused to testify before a grand jury and were jailed for contempt .
 
Michael Sansone confirmed to the judge that he had agreed to forfeit $4 039 and a laptop computer, both of which were seized in the raids.