Sixteen months of investigation, highlighted by a police raid in May 1999, has resulted in two indictments against Handa Lopez, Inc. (HLI) and two of the company's executives, David Brown of California and Raymond Clark of British Columbia.
The two-count indictment, filed June 14 in the San Jose U.S. District Court, charges the defendants with conspiracy to gamble in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and gambling in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955. The indictment alleges that the defendants claimed to host their Internet gambling website from offshore locations, which were in actuality operated from a server physically located in the Sunnyvale, CA offices. It also alleges that the credit card service company that managed HLI's merchant credit card account processed more than $6.2 million of credit card
transactions.
Further, Brown is charged with using business proceeds to purchase a 1998 Piper Seneca V Aircraft, a 1998 Lincoln Navigator, a 1998 Ferrari and a home in Gilroy, California. A separate indictment charges him with tax evasion.
The maximum statutory penalty for each of the charged criminal offenses is five years imprisonment, three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The defendants are likely to be arraigned within the next 30 days in federal
court.
Since last year's raid, the company's computers and files, as well as the its bank accounts, were seized.
Click here to read the indictment against Brown, Clark and HLI
Click here to read the additional indictment against Brown
Also see: "California Court Indicts Brown, Clark, Handa Lopez"