Poker Trails Begin

**sprocketdog** · 12-21-2011, 04:22 PM

Absolute Poker founder Brent Beckley Guilty
Today 01:42 by Olsdog / dailypkr.com

Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley appeared in a New York City courtroom yesterday, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to violate an internet law.

Beckley told the judge, "I knew it was illegal to deceive the banks in this way," before his lawyers delivered the guilty plea. He will now await sentencing, which will reportedly be 12-18 months in prison under a plea bargaining deal.

The 31-year-old is one of 12 defendants connected with the Black Friday case that the US Department of Justice is running. On April 15th, the US DOJ reprimanded Absolute Poker, UB Poker, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker for alleged bank fraud and wire fraud crimes.

At the heart of the matter is that these poker sites worked with payment processors and banks to set up shell companies that disguised transactions going to and from these sites. With player deposits and cashouts billed as jewelry and golf ball purchases, the online poker rooms were able to circumvent the gambling site restrictions that US banks have to follow.

Other defendants in the case who will have to appear in court are Absolute Poker co-founder Scott Tom, Tiltware CEO Ray Bitar and PokerStars owner Isai Scheinberg. Out of these three, Scheinberg may have the easiest run in court since PokerStars has already settled with the US DOJ financially. Full Tilt, Absolute and UB Poker have still been unable to process player cashouts or settle their debts with the US DOJ.