Jay Cohen is the Founder and Former President of the World Sports Exchange (www.wsex.com). He established the WSEX as a licensed and regulated internet sports book in Antigua in 1997. He helped build the WSEX into one of the world's largest and most reputable online sports books.

Cohen appeared regularly in the national news media to discuss his new business and industry  -- something the US national sports leagues did not appreciate

The national sports leagues' attorneys investigated Cohen and had the US government bring charges against him in March 1998. Cohen voluntarily returned to the US in 1998 to fight federal criminal charges against him and his company -- expecting to clear his name and business.

Jay Cohen was released from Nellis Federal Prison Camp on March 22, 2004. He then served a short time in a federal halfway house and federal facility in Oakland, California. In May 2004, Mr. Cohen was released by the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving two years of probation. Jay continues to press that his conviction was improper and hopes to clear his name, once and for all.



Jay Cohen at Nellis Federal Prison Camp, February 28, 2003.
Photo by Aaron Mayes/Las Vegas Sun

Cohen's business associates remained in Antigua and continue to operate WSEX, which has expanded to offer a wide variety of online gaming.  This is a lawful,  regulated business within the country where WSEX is located and operated

In February 2000, Cohen was convicted in a highly unusual trial, by jury which felt it had no choice but to convict him  -- Cohen's legal defenses were ignored. Cohen is the only foreign-based individual, operating entirely from a sovereign country where internet  wagering is legal and regulated, who has been convicted by the U.S. under an antiquated federal anti-gambling statute.

On March 22, 2004, after serving 17 months at a federal minimum security prison at FPC Nellis in Las Vegas, Nevada, Cohen was released to serve 30 days at a halfway house in Oakland, California. While he was in the prison system, billions of dollars were wagered online, not to mention the billions of dollars that were lawfully wagered in the city where he was imprisoned.

Today, although he has been released from custody, Cohen is considered a convicted felon and is serving two years of probation. His criminal ordeal will not be over until May 2006, eight years after he voluntarily returned from Antigua in an effort to clear his name and industry.

The entire time he was in prison, and continuing to today, US law is unclear about the legalities of online wagering. On March 24, 2004, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that US federal law banning Internet gambling violated the US's international trade obligations. The WTO's final ruling is expected to be publicly released in October 2004.