Feds: Tierney kin’s gambling ring took in $22M

A multimillion-dollar sports betting Web site run by U.S. Rep. John Tierney’s brothers-in-law “was truly a family affair” and paid $500,000 for a helicopter on top of at least $20,000 in personal purchases by the Salem Democrat’s convicted wife, according to newly filed court papers.

The high-flying expenditure was part of a $10 million gambling profits money-laundering scheme outlined in the brief filed by federal prosecutors ahead of the trial of Patrice Tierney’s brother, Daniel Eremian, next month. Meanwhile, at least $22 million in receipts were collected by the operation, the feds said.

Robert Eremian, 58, Patrice Tierney’s fugitive brother, is accused of crafting Sports Off Shore in his Lynnfield home in the 1980s, relocating the business to Antigua in the 1990s. With the help of brother Daniel Eremian, 61, the illegal gaming site grew to “daunting” proportions, servicing hundreds of high rollers, funding $500,000 toward the purchase of an eight-passenger helicopter and resulting in the laundering of $10 million between 2003 and 2009 that was funneled through a bank account managed by sister Patrice Tierney, prosecutors claim.

Their late father and Patrice Tierney’s son from a prior marriage also worked for SOS, prosecutors said, calling it, “truly a family affair.”

Prosecutors revealed earlier this year that Patrice Tierney spent between $20,000 and $30,000 of Robert Eremian’s money on a Volkswagen Beetle and a family cell phone plan. On probation after pleading guilty last year to aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns, Tierney is one of 60 witnesses the government may call in her brother’s racketeering, illegal gambling and conspiracy trial.

Free on a $250,000 bond, Daniel Eremian declined comment yesterday when reached at home in Florida. He will be tried alongside Todd Lyons, 38, of Beverly, who prosecutors say collected more than $22 million in debts for the brothers between 1998 and 2006. Charged with racketeering, illegal gambling and money laundering, he did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.