A 50 pages affidavit filed by Special FBI Agent Francis J. Bowles, containing the information about the FBI investigation into Legends Sports, has several pages dedicated to Spiros “The Greek” Athanas.
The FBI has used the information in the affidavit to establish probable cause to support the forfeiture order signed by the United States Attorneys for the Western District of Oklahoma, that earlier in June seized from Athanas around $250k in cash funds and bank account deposits as well as 16 real estate properties and the private jet The Greek used to travel in and out of the United States.
Athanas, born in 1960, has been involved with illegal gambling since the early 1990s. In 1996, the FBI joined forced with the IRS and the Massachusetts State Police and the joint investigation discovered 4 telephone betting operations in the Boston area that earned approximately $10m per year.
One of Athanas’ associates at the time was Robert H. Eremian, who later that year moved to Antigua to start SportsOffShore.
In February 1997, while the investigation in the United States extended to New Hampshire and other locations, Athanas fled to Jamaica. Later that year, the New Hampshire State Police advised the FBI that Athanas had set up an internet web site called thegreek.com.
What’s most interesting is that the FBI received confirmations about Athanas’ illegal gambling activities from a number of its “sources” throughout the years.
For example, on October 7, 1996, an FBI San Francisco source, who was a long time bookmaker who utilized an offshore location for his betting operations, reported that a bookmaker from Boston known as Spiros had recently relocated to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
On July 11, 1997, an FBI Newark source, who was involved in a bookmaking operation in Boston, reported that as of April 1997 he was told to place all future bets through Spiros from Olympic Sports.
In 1998, an FBI New Haven source reported Francis Gratta, an associate of the New England crime family, was interested in setting up a sports bookmaking operation in Jamaica. Gratta said he had a friend who owned an operation called Olympic Sports. Gratta eventually used Olympic Sports to manage his gambling activity.
On June 17, 2004, an FBI Newark source, who recorded a conversation with the subject of an FBI investigation, was told that Spiros had to leave Jamaica because of problems with local citizens.
On November 16, 2007, an FBI Boston source reported two individuals known as “The Greeks” were involved in a large scale, organized gambling ring and loan sharking operation. The source stated “The Greeks” were close with Spiros from Peabody, Massachusetts, who owned Olympic Sports in Jamaica.
And so on.
But confidential informants and moles within criminal organizations are not the sole source of information for the FBI.
Special Agent Bowles used sportsbookreview.com as his source of reviews of gambling websites.
“The review from www.sportsbookreview.com stated The Greek Sportsbook, one of Athanas’ gambling websites, also known as www.thegreek.com was established in 1996 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The General Manager was listed as “Spiros” in the review,” reads the affidavit filed by Special Agent Bowles, who also used beyondthebets.com, which in July 2011 stated that Betjamaica was being closed while The Greek Sports Book was transferring bettors to Heritage Sports Book, an “invitation-only” sports book which would accept bettors from the United States.
Bookmakers Review advises its readers to stay away from thegreek.com and heritagesports.eu.
Pierluigi Buccioli
Calculators
