Press Releases

January 26, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

PAIR CHARGED WITH BOOKMAKING, MONEY LAUNDERING
AND TAX VIOLATIONS

Boston, MA... A North Reading man and a Methuen man have been charged in federal court with a bookmaking, money laundering and tax conspiracy.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett; Douglas A. Bricker, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation in New England; and Colonel Mark Delaney, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced today that RICHARD W. SETTIPANE II, age 41, of North Reading, Massachusetts, and JOHN DEMARKIS, age 46, of Methuen, Massachusetts, were charged in an Information with Conspiracy, Conducting an Illegal Bookmaking Business, Transmitting Wagering Information, Money Laundering and Tax Evasion.

According to the Information, SETTIPANE and DEMARKIS operated a bookmaking business in Woburn, North Reading and Methuen, Massachusetts. The operation included a bookmaking office, where odds were given and bets were taken, as well as numerous “agents” who were responsible for collecting losses and delivering winnings to the customers of the business. It is alleged that in 2004 and 2005, SETTIPANE and DEMARKIS laundered profits from their illegal bookmaking business by using their bookmaking income to purchase and operate a limousine business. SETTIPANE is also charged with evading excise taxes on the wagers handled by the business, while DEMARKIS is charged with evading income taxes on his bookmaking income.

The Information also seeks forfeiture of the limousine business that SETTIPANE and DEMARKIS allegedly obtained with their illegal earnings.

The case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and the Massachusetts State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul G. Levenson in Sullivan’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit and John McAdams, Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division, in coordination with John T. Dawley, First Assistant District Attorney for Essex County.

The details contained in the Information are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139