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David Carruthers Arrested for Tax Evasion

The news that David Carruthers had been detained by federal authorities on Sunday evening sparked fears that it might herald a crackdown on US internet gambling.

However, FBI officials confirmed that agents from the IRS, as well as the FBI were present, indicating an investigation into tax evasion as well as illegal betting.

Forth Worth airport police took Mr. Carruthers into the holding cells beneath the arrivals terminal where he spent the night. Then at lunchtime yesterday he was handed over to the custody of the US Marshals Service.

At some point between his arrest and the appearance in court Mr. Carruthers would have suffered the indignity of the mugshots and fingerprinting. The Marshals Service dispatched two officers to take him in handcuffs and shackles to the Fort Worth federal courthouse where he was scheduled to appear before a judge for a brief hearing at 2pm Dallas time. The process would have been repeated by the US Marshals Service.

Mr. Carruthers will reappear in court on Friday for a detention hearing.

Prosecutor Mark Nicholls told the court that he was accused of conspiring to offer bets on professional and college sports to US residents. Yesterday's hearing only lasted ten minutes, with prosecutors declining to release details of a multi-count indictment against Mr. Carruthers and several others.

Until he is sent to Missouri to face trial, Mr. Carruthers is expected to be housed in a cramped cell at the Seagoville Federal Correctional Center near Dallas according to a spokeswoman for the FBI Dallas office.

If Mr. Carruthers's lucky he will have a cell to himself with a bed, a seatless toilet and a small sink. It is more probable, though, that he will have to share the tiny space with an inmate.

There, he will be obliged to wear an orange jump-suit and be forced to stay in his cell for 23 hours a day. He will be allowed out to exercise for one hour a day under close guard.