‘False’ sports betting stole $ 25 million from people: the Federals

A professional poker player is accused of running a “sham” bet on a sport that stole more than $ 25 million in savings from people working in New York and Florida, federal prosecutors say.

His group is misleading others across the country into paying for false “insider information” about professional and university sporting events that promised “Lead them to easy money,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

61-year-old Corey Seidman from Boca Raton, Florida, faces numerous allegations of alleged fraud after spending stolen money on poker tournaments, a multi-million dollar home and vacation around the world, according to a press release from prosecutors. said. He was arrested on May 25.

Seidman is Fr. Winner of the 2012 World Series of Poker braceletESPN reports.

The lawyer’s contact information was not available immediately.

“Seidman allegedly cheated his victims, stole their savings and persuaded them to clear their retirement accounts to invest in his fictitious sports bets,” said U.S. Attorney General Breon Peace.

Scheme

Between 2004 and 2020, Seidman’s group, which is accused of leading national radio, offered fake tips on sports betting, the indictment said. His group was called the Phoenix Organization.

When radio listeners called the number mentioned in the ad, Seidman and other participants in the scheme told them that “some sporting events were predetermined or” determined “and that they” knew the results, “prosecutors said.

Seidman and his group are accused of telling their victims that they have received inside information about these events from television executives and others that “can be used” for predictions, according to the indictment.

These victims were tricked into paying for this information, which was false or could be found online through a search, a press release said. They felt it did not threaten them.

According to prosecutors, a total of the victims sent Seidman and others more than $ 25 million through bank transfers and other means.

Seidman is also accused of opening bank accounts in New York “on behalf of bogus corporations” to handle stolen money, the indictment said.

He is accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to launder money, the press release said. His first appearance in court will take place in a federal court in Miami after his arrest in Florida.

Seidman “developed a criminal scheme to increase his pockets, using nothing more than people’s love of sports and his clever words wrapped in fraud,” said in a statement the US Postal Inspector Daniel Brubaker.