UK WSOP Winner Jailed And Told To Pay Back £1m

UK poker pro and WSOP bracelet winner Darren Woods, 29, has been sentenced to fifteen months behind bars for online fraud, and could face a further six years in jail if he fails to pay back £1 million within the next six months. That sum represents the amount he is believed to have gained from his criminal activity, although the police say the actually sum may be higher.
Between January 2007 and January 2012, Darren Woods used several different poker accounts to play online at the same time, and apparently used his own private online networks and several different computers to disguise his real location and identity. Morteza Gharoon, 56, also admitted to allowing his son to create a fake account in his name, and helping him launder £230,000 off the site. Consequently, Gharoon received a six-month suspended jail sentence and must now pay back £18,910 in forfeiture.
After being made bankrupt in 2006, Darren Woods embarked on his criminal career of fraud and collusion until his activities were eventually uncovered several years later by other high-stakes online pros. Publicy outing him as a multi-accounter on a TwoPlusTwo poker forum, 888Poker exec, Gareth Edwards subsequently announced an investigation which lead to Woods’ arrest a few years later.
Despite the pain and financial cost to those unfortunate players who lost money to him, however, Darren Woods seem to have shown a remarkable lack of contrition for his actions, and according to a report said he only colluded because other online poker players were doing the same. A Grimsby Telegraph report also quoted him as saying he intends to move abroad when released from jail, stating “it will be difficult for me to get a job (after sentencing). Who is going to employ someone with a criminal record for fraud?”