SALEM — Illegal gambling was practically a family business for the Eremians, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Since the 1980s, Patrice Tierney's younger brother Robert H. Eremian had been running a "large-scale illegal gambling business" that at times also involved her older brother Daniel; her father, Robert G. Eremian; and her son from her first marriage, assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak Jr. said.
But Tierney, the wife of Democratic Congressman John Tierney of Salem, told a judge yesterday she had willfully blinded herself to her brother's true business, as she handled his finances over a four-year period, enabling her brother to conceal an offshore gambling operation.
Prosecutors called it aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns, and yesterday, Tierney, 59, pleaded guilty to four counts of it.
The cost of ignoring what Wyshak called "numerous, numerous red flags along the way" will be two years of probation, 90 days of which Tierney will spend confined to her Salem home, and $2,900 in fines and fees, if Judge William Young accepts the plea agreement Tierney worked out with federal prosecutors.
Young gave her an obligatory warning that, should he choose not to accept the deal, he could impose a six-month prison term under federal sentencing guidelines when Tierney returns to court on Jan. 13 for sentencing.
"I'm not part of this plea bargain process," Young told Tierney.
During a routine question-and-answer session with the judge, Tierney told him she's undergoing treatment for anxiety and depression, but said, "I feel fine, calmer than I would usually be."
"Do you know what you're charged with?" Young asked.
"I'm charged with willful blindness to tax fraud," Tierney responded.
The judge explained that meant that Tierney had shown a "reckless disregard" for whether the information she handed over to tax preparers was truthful.
"Are you covering up for someone else by pleading guilty?" Young asked Tierney.
"No, sir," she answered.
"Why are you pleading guilty today?"
"I take full responsibility for what my part in this was," Tierney responded.
"Do you think you're guilty?"
"I do," Tierney said.
Wyshak told the judge that in 1996, after Robert Eremian first came under investigation for the illegal gambling operation (see related story), he moved his operation to Antigua, but continued to do business in the United States illegally, taking and placing sports bets.
In 2003, Tierney took over the management of her brother's finances, handling his Bank of America account.
Her husband, in a statement, said that Robert Eremian "deceived" his sister.
Robert Eremian, under indictment since August on illegal gambling charges, is now a fugitive.
But until late last year, Tierney was apparently in regular contact with her brother, handling his bank account, paying his bills and his taxes, and keeping records on QuickBooks software.
She would describe the deposits to the account as consulting fees for his purported work as a computer consultant for an Internet gambling business — a business Robert Eremian actually owned, Wyshak said.
When it came time for Eremian to file his taxes, Tierney took those QuickBooks records and other documents to a tax preparer.
Tierney made "numerous material misstatements" about her brother's finances and his income, even as she "willfully and deliberately ignored those red flags" that kept appearing, Wyshak told the judge.
Wyshak told the judge that prosecutors are unable at this point to determine exactly how much tax revenue should have been collected based on Eremian's business, given that the government in Antigua has violated a mutual legal assistance treaty with the United States and refuses to honor subpoenas for records.
John Tierney, in the midst of a re-election campaign, accompanied his wife to court yesterday.
At several points during the hearing, Tierney bowed his head, once clasping his hands together against his forehead. After it was over, as his wife spoke with her lawyer, Tierney briefly stood alone, clutching coats, an umbrella and his wife's small black handbag.
"Today's not about me," he told reporters outside U.S. District Court. "I'm here in support of Patrice. This is a difficult day."
He would not answer questions from reporters, retreating back into the courthouse.
Sister Says She Reported Brother in Patz Killing
Patz Suspect's Sister: I Went to Police in 1980s
Diplomatic Expulsions Follow Fresh Syria Report
15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise
Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students
Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation
Mother of Allegedly Abused Girl Denies Claims
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
