LONDON (AP) — A former Conservative lawmaker who used insider knowledge to place wagers on the date that then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would call a U.K.-wide election two years ago pleaded guilty Monday to cheating at gambling.
Craig Williams, who was Sunak's parliamentary private secretary, was one of more than a dozen people charged in the betting scandal over the timing of Britain’s last general election.
Election gambling is legal in the U.K. and betting on the date the prime minister will set is a popular wager. It's legal for lawmakers to bet, but not if they rely on inside knowledge.
Sunak surprised many in May 2024 when he set the election date for July 4 when the conventional wisdom was that he would wait until the fall.
The announcement itself was a fiasco as Sunak was drenched in a downpour outside 10 Downing St. and word quickly spread that a handful of people with connections to the party had placed suspiciously timed bets. Six weeks later, the Labour Party swept the Conservatives out of office after 14 years of rule.
Williams, 41, who was in meetings when the election date was discussed, admitted in Southwark Crown Court that he used confidential information to gamble. He placed three bets between 22.50 ($29.80) and 250 pounds ($331), prosecutors said.
Williams, who lost his reelection bid for his seat in Wales, later admitted he placed a 100-pound ($132) bet on a July election days before the date had been announced.
“I committed an error of judgment, not an offense, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you,” he said in a video posted on social media in June 2024.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson said three additional charges that Williams denied will be dropped when he is sentenced at a later date.
“He has now accepted by his plea that he used highly sensitive and confidential information to place bets and to profit,” Johnson said.
Other members of the Conservative Party that controlled government at the time and a police officer are among those still facing charges that carry a potential two-year prison term, if convicted.
A dozen defendants pleaded not guilty Monday to cheating at gambling and face trials in September 2027 and January 2028.
The wife of Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind also pleaded guilty to cheating at betting. Amy Hind, 35, is due to be sentenced Oct. 23. A charge against her husband for passing information to his wife was dropped.
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to the media, as heavy rain falls, outside 10 Downing Street in London May 22, 2024, as he announces that he is to call a General Election for July 4. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — With the window for finding survivors shrinking fast, Venezuelans combed Monday through more ruins of buildings toppled by last week’s devastating back-to-back earthquakes, and a 4.6 magnitude aftershock rumbled through the disaster zone in the northern state of La Guaira.
Five days have passed since the twin earthquakes struck northern Venezuela, killing more than 1,450 people, according to the government. Relief organizations say the first 72 hours after a natural disaster is the most crucial time period for rescues, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.
Families kept vigil at search sites in hard-hit La Guaira, where local and international rescue teams battled exhaustion and the grim knowledge that the chances of finding life were rapidly diminishing.
Ana Rada watched intently as civil defense workers searched the rubble of a collapsed apartment for her missing brother.
“We have to stay strong, even without food, without sleep,” she said, wiping her eyes. "Until I see the body, I still have hope.”
The aftershock, which struck about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of Caraballeda on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, measured 4.6 on the Richter scale, according to the United States Geological Survey. Colombia’s geological survey put the magnitude at 5.1.
Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, said there were no immediate reports of additional damage, but the aftershock sent residents in the capital of Caracas screaming into the streets.
“Here we are again, back in the street. I don’t know when we’ll have a moment of true peace,” said Concepción Hernández, 51, who evacuated her apartment building in the Chacao municipality of Caracas.
One of the rescuers working Monday in La Guaira was miner Jean Sosa, who said he was deported from the United States in January over a missed immigration court hearing and arrived in Caracas last month, dazed by an odyssey that he said began in shackles at an Arizona immigration detention center. The journey involved traveling by bus through five countries after immigration agents left him in southern Mexico without his passport, phone or wallet.
Sosa, 31, was checking on some family friends in La Guaira when the earthquakes hit Wednesday. For days, he raced to pull people from the rubble in the absence of national rescue teams.
“I’m not involved in politics, but I believe many people could have been saved if there had been equipment and support from top authorities from the very beginning,” he told The Associated Press, wearing a helmet and a black T-shirt splotched with dust in the port city where he said he had already rescued 20 people alive. Those rescues heartened him, he said, and gave him hope for more despite a dire lack of supplies.
“We're working without gloves, without equipment, borrowing supplies, improvising bandages and whatever else we can,” he said. “But we’re still here, still fighting.”
Jorge Rodríguez, who is the brother of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, said that as of Monday, a total of 12,721 people had been affected, while the number of damaged or collapsed buildings had reached 774.
The United Nations, however, has said that up to 6.8 million of Venezuela’s nearly 30 million residents may be affected by the earthquakes, which could mean being displaced or losing access to essential services such as electricity and water.
Because of the chaos and poor cellphone service, many Venezuelans have turned to non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. More than 50,000 people were reported missing on one such database, though it is unclear how many have been found.
Rodríguez, faced with growing anger over a response criticized as slow and inadequate, sought to reassure the population that rescue efforts were far from finished, even though the 72-hour mark had passed.
She shared footage on social media Monday of first responders lifting Aaron Levi Cantillo, 21, out of the ruins on a stretcher to applause after what she said was a grueling 43-hour operation.
DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.
Volunteer Jean Sosa, who joined rescue teams searching for earthquake survivors, explains what he saw after going under the rubble of a building where rescuers are trying to reach trapped people in La Guaira, Venezuela, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Residents and rescuers searching for survivors run as an aftershock shakes the area five days after back-to-back earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Residents watch rescuers' efforts to reach survivors beneath the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela, early Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers search through the rubble of a building that collapsed when earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A rescuer carries a girl pulled from the rubble four days after twin earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
Health workers ride in a truck on their way to join earthquake relief efforts in La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Mexican Army rescue workers search for people trapped in collapsed buildings after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A boy sleeps outside earthquake-damaged homes in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
