Congressman's Wife To Plead Guilty To Ties To Gambling Ring

Congressman John Tierney's wife Patrice will plead guilty Wednesday to Federal tax charges in connection with an off-shore gambling ring.

Patrice Tierney, 59, of Salem, was named in the same indictment Tuesday night, that named a Marblehead man this summer.

Richard Sullivan, 61, of Marblehead and St. John's, Antigua, and three other men with North Shore ties, two of which are Patrice Tierney's brothers, were indicted on 422 counts of racketeering, money laundering and running illegal gambling businesses, in August according to the US Attorney's office. 

If convicted, Patrice Tierney could face up to three years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Robert Eremian, who has a record of tax evasion stemming from 2002, and Daniel Eremian are the brothers of Patrice Tierney.

Ironically, the Eremian brothers' indictments were among the first  such indictments under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which Rep. Tierney voted against in 2006.

In a statement from Congressman John Tierney Tuesday night, he said his wife was too trusting of her brother.

"Eight years ago, my wife Patrice, the Federal Court and Office of Probation collectively believed in the statements of her brother, Robert Eremian, when he sought and received permission to travel abroad to pursue a career in selling or licensing software to legal Internet gaming businesses," Tierney said in a statement.

"While Patrice disagreed with his decision to leave his family behind to move abroad, at the request of her brother, Patrice agreed to care for their ailing mother and serve as a de facto second mother to his three teenage children. Patrice agreed to do so out of care for her family, trust in her brother and belief that what he had at that time told the requisite authorities of his proposed venture was accurate."

Recently, allegations surfaced indicating Patrice's trust in her brother was sorely misplaced as, according to prosecutors, Mr. Eremian violated the law, Tierney said.

Patrice Tierney is pleading guilty, Tierney said, because she admits she should have done more to investigate her brother's business venture. 

"Accordingly, Patrice has entered into an agreement with the United States Attorney's Office wherein she accepts full responsibility for being "willfully blind" to what her brother was doing," the statement said. "She now realizes that the trust she formerly had in her brother was misplaced and she should have more aggressively questioned Mr. Eremian when he asked her to pay his personal, some family obligations and tax payments from an account he funded."

"More specifically and while there are not any allegations of any income tax loss to the government, Patrice deeply regrets the role she played in forwarding his tax-related information that listed his earnings as "commissions" rather than "illegal gambling" income," Tierney said.

Also named in the indictment filed in August, is brother Robert Eremian, 57, of St. John's, Antigua, and Lynnfield;  brother Daniel Eremian, 60, of Boca Raton, Fla.; and Todd Lyons, 36, of Beverly.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, passed in 2006, aims to prevent the banking system from paying internet gambling debts.

Prosecutors say Sullivan, along with Lyons and Daniel Eremian, hired people to collect debts for an online gambling business in Antigua owned by Eremian's brother Robert. 

Money from the business was shipped to Antigua and then the group paid out millions of dollars to friends and relatives in America, according to prosecutors at the US Attorney's office.

Seven-term Congressman John Tierney is running for re-election against Republican Bill Hudak in November.