Tierney in-law gets 3 years in federal prison

BOSTON – Daniel Eremian, a brother-in-law of U.S. Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, blasted the congressman on Thursday outside U.S. District Court in Boston, after a judge sentenced him to serve three years in federal prison for his part in a large-scale illegal offshore gambling operation.Tierney?s wife, Patrice Tierney, served a 30-day prison sentence early last year after pleading guilty to four counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns for another brother, Robert Eremian, a fugitive who has been indicted on illegal gambling and money laundering charges for running Sports Off Shore in Antigua.Patrice Tierney testified that she and her husband did not know that Robert Eremian was running an illegal gambling operation.After his sentencing on Thursday, Daniel Eremian lashed out, telling reporters that for John Tierney “to throw my sister under the bus for his career was wrong.”According to the Associated Press, Eremian also labeled Tierney “a liar” and said he “knew everything.”John Tierney has denied any knowledge of the illegal activity. Tierney spokesperson Kathryn Prael said in an email statement to the Daily Item that Daniel Eremian and Tierney “did not get along” and that Eremian?s claims “lack both credibility and logic.”?Today, clearly bitter at having lost his case and harboring old family grudges, Daniel Eremian made bizarre, unsubstantiated and false comments,” the statement read. “Daniel Eremian spent the last several years telling anyone who would listen, including a federal judge and jury, that he was innocent of charges the government accused him of committing. Now he is claiming both to be innocent and that John Tierney should have known that he was guilty. His claims lack both credibility and logic.”The statement noted that Federal Judge (William G.) Young said that Tierney was not implicated in this in ?any way, shape or form.?During his sentence hearing, Daniel Eremian told Judge Patty Saris, “There are many things in the indictment I was charged with doing and there?s no way I did them. But I?m not going to run to Panama or to Antigua to avoid what my sentence will be.”Robert Eremian, who remains a fugitive, built a massive online gambling ring called Sports Off Shore, based in Antigua, which employed about 50 gambling agents in the U.S. and serviced thousands of customers.Daniel Eremian and his co-defendant, Todd Lyons, were convicted in December of racketeering for helping run Sports Offshore from at least 1997 to 2010.Saris also sentenced Eremian?s co-defendant, Lyons, to four years in federal prison, citing his key role in managing the business? massive proceeds.Much of the hearing centered on the men?s roles in the enterprise, which ran for at least 15 years. Prosecutors argued that Daniel Eremian played a pivotal role in the business, including going to Antigua to help Robert Eremian set it up, and that he served as the primary agent for Sports Offshore in Florida, where he and his family reside and where he will serve out his sentence.Daniel Eremian originally solicited gambling customers from a Peabody bar and eventually moved to Florida where he continued to collect money from other gambling agents. Lyons acted as an agent in Massachusetts, driving throughout the state to collect millions of dollars lost by gamblers. The defendants often used FedEx to ship cash and checks back and forth to Antigua and also utilized a mail drop in Belize to receive proceeds of illegal gambling activities.?Someone who keeps 100 percent of what they make is not an employee, he?s more of a partner,” Asst. U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak told the judge. “He was at least a middle manager in this enterprise.”Saris disagreed that Eremian held a managerial position, but noted in her sentencing that he did help set the business up and knew about the “massive span” of the enterprise.The judge cited Lyons? key role as the primary manager of the assets during the sentence imposition, calling him “clearly instrumental,”