Flashbacks to 2011 for Absolute Poker players who were not paid following Black Friday debacle
Absolute Poker players left unpaid when the online poker operator crashed amid federal enforcement actions and allegations of cheating back in 2011 will long remember the name Scott Tom (37) and his elusive behaviour during the crisis which engulfed the company he founded.
On Thursday the wounds inflicted by the Absolute Poker failure were again stinging at the news that Tom has returned to the United States to deal with the federal charges against him after self-imposed exile in the Caribbean islands, where he was a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis but lived on Antigua.
The Reuters news agency reports that Tom pleaded not guilty Thursday in a Manhattan federal court to charges he violated a federal internet gambling law and engaged in a money-laundering conspiracy. His plea was recorded and he was released on a half-million dollar bond.
Tom's legal representative, James Henderson told the court that a plea deal was being negotiated and he expected the issue to be settled soon, as his client wanted to "put this matter behind him."
InfoPowa readers will recall that Tom was one of 11 individuals indicted back in 2011 by the US Department of Justice in its enforcement drive against Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars, ensuring that all three either folded or left the US market.
Federal prosecutors claim that the companies tricked banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal internet gambling proceeds through shell companies that appeared on the surface to be legitimate.
Tom's outfit – Absolute Poker – allegedly took in around $500 million from US punters, they claim.
Much of the government's case is believed to have been built on the testimony of Australian money processing whiz-kid Daniel Tzvetkoff, who was arrested whilst on an ill-advised visit to Las Vegas and subsequently agreed to assist federal investigators in other cases.
The charges Tom is currently facing fall under U.S. v. Tzvetkoff et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-cr-00336.
One of Tom's colleagues, Brent Beckley who handled payment processing at Absolute, pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2012 and is free after serving 14 months in jail.
Online Casino News Courtesy of Infopowa
