Poker pro pleads guilty in multi-million dollar sports betting scam

[The Buzz]

A professional poker player, Cory Zeidman, admitted guilt in a long-running sports betting scam that spanned from 2006 to 2020.

Zeidman, from Boca Raton, Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. He and his partners tricked people into paying for betting advice by falsely claiming to have insider information like secret injury reports, corrupt referees, and fixed game outcomes.

From the press release:

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William S. Walker, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI), Daniel B. Brubaker, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, New York (USPIS) and Patrick J. Ryder, Commissioner, Nassau County Police Department (NCPD), announced the guilty plea.

“Sports bettors sought Corey Zeidman’s advice before gambling their money— but it was Zeidman himself who was scoring big through his deceptive practices, outright lies, and high-pressure tactics that exploited unsuspecting clients,” stated HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Walker. “Today, HSI New York and our law enforcement partners brought Zeidman’s racket to an end. The public deserves to know the truth concerning where their money is going, and HSI is committed to working with our partners to protect the community wherever and whenever possible from illicit schemes.”

As alleged in court documents, Zeidman helped run an organization that placed national radio advertisements to lure prospective bettors to retain the organization for sports betting advice. Using fake names and high-pressure sales tactics, Zeidman and his partners falsely led the bettors to believe that their organization had access to non-public information—bettors were often told, for example, that Zeidman’s organization had access to non-public player injury information, “dirty” referees, or that professional sporting events were “fixed” and that media executives’ shares predetermined outcomes with Zeidman’s organization.

This information, the bettors were told, made gambling on sporting events a low or no-risk proposition. Victims were required to pay exorbitant fees to obtain this supposedly privileged information which, unbeknownst to them, was fictitious or based on the conspirators’ open-source internet research. Over the course of several years, Zeidman and his partners reaped millions in fees from victims.

Read more here: www.gpwa.org/article/poker-pro-pleads-guilty-in-multi-million-dollar-sports-betting-scam-258477

[universal4]

Too bad we don't know the site they used to recruit. Would be interesting to see some of the false claims they made such as having the false insider information, or corrupt ref's etc.

Would guess some of this information had to have been published, unless it was strictly in newsletters or behind a paywall.

Also would be interesting to see what they considered, "high-pressure tactics".

Rick
Universal4