This is kind of interesting.

You know all about prohibitions against Americans setting up offshore gambling businesses.

Everyone else in the world, it seems, can do it. But not Americans.

That’s another story (OH, could we use their taxes if it were made legal….)

From the HILL newspaper, I learned that the wife of Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) plead guilty n federal court Wednesday to charges that she helped her brother conceal his lucrative illegal offshore gambling business.

Patrice Tierney, 59, was charged with four counts of helping her brother, fugitive Robert Eremian, prepare false federal tax returns.

Charges against Eremian state that he moved his illegal gambling outlet to Antigua in the late 1990s and dubbed it Sports Offshore, which included a website and telephone line for his U.S. customers.

He allegedly employed “agents” in the U.S. who helped recruit customers and collect gambling debts from them, funneling the money to Antigua.

The information, which was unsealed this week, accuses Tierney’s wife of managing her brother’s U.S. assets through a Bank of America account in Massachusetts.

She allegedly kept detailed records of financial transactions related to the account and gave information to her brother’s tax preparer that stated his income as commission from his job as a computer consultant.

According to The Associated Press, Rep. Tierney, who faces reelection in November, said his wife accepts “full responsibility” for turning a blind eye to her brother’s business.

The AP also reported that an attorney for Patrice Tierney said that prosecutors are expected to recommend that she receive probation and a term of home confinement in exchange for her guilty plea.

If she is convicted, Tierney would face a maximum prison sentence of 3 years followed by one year of supervised release along with a maximum fine of $100,000 for each count.

Interesting, huh?

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