Absolute Poker co-owner Brent Beckley gets 14 months in federal prison

[Dan Druff]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48292639

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An owner of Absolute Poker, one of the three largest Internet poker companies, was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Monday after admitting to deceiving banks over the processing of gambling proceeds.

Brent Beckley, 32, joined Costa Rica-based Absolute Poker in 2003 and became its head of payment processing. Last December, he pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to break U.S. laws against gambling on the Internet. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Beckley deserved prison time despite his surrender and cooperation because "the sentence has to make clear that the government of the United States means business in these types of cases."

"I fooled myself into thinking that what I was doing was OK," Beckley told the judge.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged 11 people at the three biggest online poker companies: Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. The U.S. government also seized their Internet domain names.

The chief of Full Tilt Poker, Raymond Bitar, surrendered to U.S. authorities earlier this month and pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal gambling and that the online poker operator defrauded its players.

The case is USA v. Tzvetkoff et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 10-cr-0336.

Beckley was mainly involved in the payment processing side of AP.

It has been assumed that he was involved with the AP cheating, along with fellow AP owners Scott Tom, Oscar Hilt-Tatum, and AJ Green.

Beckley was also one of the secret owners of "new UB" that Joe Sebok swore had nothing to do with the old owners.

Pretty weak that he's only getting 14 months.

The conviction has nothing to do with the AP cheating.

[Rollo Tomasi]

didn't know AJ Green was an owner, do you have any proof AJ Green was an owner
also noticed Elevengrover was lurking here last night
and would be good timing to get Haley on radio to comment on the conviction

[Deal]

Anything I have ever read or been told about AJ is that he was a real douchbag in the offices of AP but friend of Scott Tom's. He got his in via bullshitting some email security vulnerability and offering his services to patch it. He was employed as a security consultant and dismissed immediately as the scapegoat when the cheating scandal could no longer be covered up. I really don't think he had any ownership.

[Crowe Diddly]

I either didn't know or had completely forgot that Beckley was Scott Tom's half-brother. Probably just forgot. That's common info, right?

[HowQuaint]

I actually had some direct (email) dealings with Brent. He was a very nice guy. When there was an issue with a 6 figure wire payment once, he was quite kind, apologetic, on the ball with fixing the issue, and bought me a nice $300 steak dinner to boot. That said, I don't really know if he was a hard core criminal or involved in the actual cheating at AP that screwed me and my fellow players out of tons of money.

--
HQ

[BeerAndPoker]

Ira Rubin was sentenced to 3 years prison. He was one of the people into processing payments for the sites.

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/def...ce-072612.html

[hardeight]

if he got to make millions of the deal and still has the cash 14 months aint bad i think fed time is at least 80 percent of your time so he will have to do around 11 months

[herbertstemple]

if he got to make millions of the deal and still has the cash 14 months aint bad i think fed time is at least 80 percent of your time so he will have to do around 11 months

Gotta agree with you here. I'd take the time and keep the money too, even if it meant I got put in the pickle barrel a couple of days a week.

[Dan Druff]

I actually had some direct (email) dealings with Brent. He was a very nice guy. When there was an issue with a 6 figure wire payment once, he was quite kind, apologetic, on the ball with fixing the issue, and bought me a nice $300 steak dinner to boot. That said, I don't really know if he was a hard core criminal or involved in the actual cheating at AP that screwed me and my fellow players out of tons of money.

--
HQ

Even if he was a competent payment processor and was good at customer service, it doesn't take away from the fact that it's highly likely that he at least knew about the cheating.

Brent was very close to primary cheater Scott Tom, as was fellow partner Oscar Hilt-Tatum, and I would be shocked if they were in the dark about the cheating. I believe that all of the owners knew about it, participated in it, and benefited from it.

It does make sense that he put a lot of effort into making a high-roller on the site happy, as he knew those players were valuable to keep (and later steal from!)

[Deal]

Even if he was a competent payment processor and was good at customer service, it doesn't take away from the fact that it's highly likely that he at least knew about the cheating.

Brent was very close to primary cheater Scott Tom, as was fellow partner Oscar Hilt-Tatum, and I would be shocked if they were in the dark about the cheating. I believe that all of the owners knew about it, participated in it, and benefited from it.

It does make sense that he put a lot of effort into making a high-roller on the site happy, as he knew those players were valuable to keep (and later steal from!)

I disagree. Scott Tom was the guy in charge of running the poker room and he was accused by investors of cheating them as well. Scott was a coke head and out of control cheating everyone. When he and AJ finally got caught they were both pushed out by the investors including his father Phil Tom. AJ completely out and Scott just out of actual day to day operations. They didn't trust him. Your version makes a good story but I don't think all the owners knew the extend of the shadiness going on. They suspected that they were not getting full value for their shares though.

[haleylh]

Even if he was a competent payment processor and was good at customer service, it doesn't take away from the fact that it's highly likely that he at least knew about the cheating.

Brent was very close to primary cheater Scott Tom, as was fellow partner Oscar Hilt-Tatum, and I would be shocked if they were in the dark about the cheating. I believe that all of the owners knew about it, participated in it, and benefited from it.

It does make sense that he put a lot of effort into making a high-roller on the site happy, as he knew those players were valuable to keep (and later steal from!)

I disagree. Scott Tom was the guy in charge of running the poker room and he was accused by investors of cheating them as well. Scott was a coke head and out of control cheating everyone. When he and AJ finally got caught they were both pushed out by the investors including his father Phil Tom. AJ completely out and Scott just out of actual day to day operations. They didn't trust him. Your version makes a good story but I don't think all the owners knew the extend of the shadiness going on. They suspected that they were not getting full value for their shares though.

The version of the cheating as I've come to understand it is somewhere between those two arguments, and I think you both have some things right.

Separately, details of Beckley's sentencing were released last week, and he'll serve his 14 months at a minimum-security work camp adjacent to the Supermax at Englewood, CO. Beckley gets to spend his time with folks like Rod Blagojevich. Total fines for Beckley amount to $303,200 including court costs.