Eight defendants were arrested yesterday and arraigned in Queens County Supreme Court in Kew Gardens. Seventeen additional defendants were arrested yesterday in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and California. The defendants are all charged with enterprise corruption—a violation of New York State’s Organized Crime Control Act—as well as being variously charged with promoting gambling, money laundering, and conspiracy. They each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendants are accused of operating an incredibly lucrative illegal gambling operation—taking in more than $50 million in a year and a half. Such unlawfully earned profits are often—and easily—diverted to more insidious criminal enterprises. ”…
According to the indictment, between April 13, 2011 and October 18, 2012, the defendants conspired to acquire money illegally through the operation of an unlawful gambling enterprise involving the use of Internet websites that accepted bets on sporting events.
The indictment also alleges that the ring used non-traditional “wire rooms” in the form of off-shore, Internet-based gambling services—such as www.pinnaclesports.com, www.jazzsports.net/com, www.wager4you.com, and www.playhera.ag—used by bettors and agents to actually place their wagers. It is alleged that the members of the enterprise used the off-shore wire rooms to maintain the gambling accounts of numerous agents through the Internet website in an effort to evade law enforcement detection through traditional methods.
According to the indictment, the enterprise also employed “money collectors,” “money distributors,” and “banks”—such as Paul Sexton in Las Vegas; Flora Wu and Daniel Bornico in New York; and Danny Belardino and Christian Rodriguez in New York and New Jersey—to handle the illegal flow of money between the participants of the enterprise. These individuals were allegedly responsible for the collection and distribution of illegal gambling proceeds between the bookmakers and the agents. They also allegedly transported money throughout the United States and to and from Panama and/or Costa Rica via courier. It is additionally alleged that the money collectors and distributors that acted as banks were responsible for holding large amounts of money for the operation. Bookmaking enterprises use money collectors, distributors, and banks to avoid wire transfers and credit card transactions, which are prohibited by federal law for the payment and collection of gambling debts.
FBI press release link: click here