Sportingbet PLC Chairman To Fight Extradition To Louisiana

Thursday September 7th, 2006 / 5h35

By Chad Bray Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The non-executive chairman of Sportingbet PLC (SBT.LN) will fight extradition to Louisiana on charges of illegal Internet gambling, his lawyer said late Thursday.
At a hearing in New York State Supreme Court in Queens, Peter Nieman, the lawyer for Peter Dicks, said his client will contest extradition to Louisiana and will ask a New York Supreme Court justice on Friday to release his client on bail. Dicks remains in custody in New York after a state judge declined to grant him bail late Thursday.
Nieman said his client, a U.K. citizen, is not a flight risk because he has strong ties to the U.S. and that he believes Dicks can’t be extradited under New York state law for the crimes he is accuse of committing.
“This is not the ordinary extradition case,” Nieman said.
Dicks, 64 years old, was detained Wednesday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York under a warrant issued in May in St. Landry Parish, La.
Nieman said at Thursday’s hearing that Dicks was on his way to a board meeting for a publicly traded company where he serves as a director. Dicks serves on the board of Standard Microsystems.
He is charged with violating state gaming laws in connection with his role at Sportingbet, said Senior Trooper Dwight Robinette, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Police. The state police regulate gaming operations in Louisiana.