Christian Lusardi (43), the North Carolina man who literally dumped faux poker chips in an Atlantic City casino toilet eighteen months ago (see previous reports) pleaded guilty on trademark counterfeiting and criminal mischief charges before New Jersey Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury this week, and will be sentenced in October.
Lusardi brought counterfeit Borgata chips to the value of $2.7 million to Atlantic City, planning to use these in a poker tournament. However, when the scheme was detected two days into the tournament he tried to get rid of the evidence by flushing 500 of them down his hotel room toilet at the nearby Harrah’s Casino Hotel.
This clogged the plumbing and caused a leak in two adjoining rooms, entailing the corrective services of a plumber.
The use of counterfeit chips in the tournament resulted in its cancellation by state gaming officials.
In addition to the possibility of a hefty jail sentence, Lusardi will be required to pay the Borgata $463,540 in lost tournament revenue…and $9,455 to Harrah’s for plumber fees.
A spokesman for the New Jersey State Police showed some humour in a statement, warning: “When you gamble on a flush in high-stakes poker, you either win big or lose big. Lusardi lost big.”