N.Y. man guilty of offering Internet betting

Larry Neumeister

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.

NEW YORK -- A man who operated a sports betting business on the Internet was convicted by a federal jury Monday in what is believed to be the first case of its kind to go to trial.

The jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan concluded that Jay Cohen, 33, broke a federal law by accepting bets and wagers on sports events over the Internet and telephone.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said Cohen, of San Francisco, was the first defendant to stand trial in the United States for running an Internet sports gambling site.

Cohen, president of World Sports Exchange in Antigua, was among 22 defendants charged in March 1998 with operating offshore companies that took bets from Americans via the Internet or toll-free telephone numbers. Federal law prohibits the use of the Internet for sports betting and makes it a crime to use interstate telephone lines for gambling. Ten defendants pleaded guilty.

Cohen's attorney, Ben Brafman, pledged to appeal the verdict.

"We believe that the legal instructions provided by the court gave this jury absolutely no choice but to return a verdict of guilty," Brafman said in a statement.

Cohen is scheduled to be sentenced May 23.