Online gambling entrepreneur sues Canadian Government
News on 22 Oct 2014
News on 22 Oct 2014
Federal Court in Vancouver, Canada looks likely to be the scene of some interesting disclosures in the near future following a complaint filed this week by Stanley Howard Tomchin, a US citizen and alleged online gambling entrepreneur who claims that he was illegally detained by Canadian officials working in cooperation with US enforcement.
Court documents indicate that Tomchin has been indicted in the US for his alleged role in an online gambling ring, but complains that whilst visiting Canada he was illegally detained to seek information to share with Queens County, N.Y. District Attorney’s “tenuous case” against him.
Courthouse News reports that Tomchin has filed litigation against Her Majesty the Queen and Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, claiming his rights against self-incrimination and unreasonable search and seizure were violated when he was detained at Vancouver airport in June 2014.
Tomchin, who describes himself as an “entrepreneur operating mainly in the area of licensed internet gaming and options, but also in real estate development,” apparently visits Canada regularly.
He was indicted on online gambling and money laundering offences by US officials in New York in October 2012 and allowed out on bail with permission to travel internationally. His indictment was resolved in July this year when he pleaded guilty to a Class B misdemeanour and was given a conditional discharge which allowed him to travel internationally.
However, Canadian officials detained him on landing for a visit to Canada, ostensibly to determine whether he was “criminally inadmissible to Canada,” but, he claims, in reality to interrogate him and share the information gleaned with the US authorities.
“Were there genuine immigration concerns about whether the plaintiff was inadmissible to Canada or whether his presence in Canada posed some threat to the safety of the Canadian public, CBSA officers could simply have permitted him to withdraw his application to enter Canada,” the complaint states.
“To the contrary, in pursuit of an ultra vires purpose the CBSA defendants questioned the plaintiff at length about the outstanding U.S. allegations and then shared this compelled information with U.S. law enforcement.”
