Absolute Poker Boss Gets 14 Months In Jail
July 24, 2012 12:17 pmOn April 15, 2011, the US issued its online poker indictments, with the government’s attempts to bring the perpetrators to justice having gained some momentum of late with a number of high profile court cases.
Last month, Utah banker John Campos, 59, received a 3 month jail sentence for his part in processing $200 million of online poker transactions, some of which was for Full Tilt Poker. The beginning of July then saw Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar, 40, arrested with $350 million still owed by the company to players worldwide.
Now, Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley, 32, has received a stretch of 14 months behind bars from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. Apparently, Beckley’s lenient sentence was helped by his cooperation with authorities and the fact his fraudulent actions didn’t cause any financial institutions to lose money. Meanwhile, Absolute Poker customers are still out of pocket and are owed around $60 million. The U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, insisted Beckley deserved some jail time, explaining:
“The sentence has to make clear that the government of the United States means business in these types of cases.”
After surrendering himself, Brent Beckley’s plea bargain included a prison term between 12 to 18 month, a $300,000 forfeiture and a $30,000 fine. The judge then stuck to these guidelines when sentencing Beckley, who earlier told the court; “I fooled myself into thinking that what I was doing was OK.”
In addition to John Campos, Ray Bitar and Brent Beckley, Bradley Franzen, Ryan Lang, Ira Rubin, Chad Elie have all been in contact with authorities and are now awaiting sentencing. The only remaining fugutives are now PokerStars’ Isai Scheinberg, Nelson Burtnick and Paul Tate, as well as Absolute Poker’s Scott Tom.