Professional poker player Jay Sharon and seven other men have been arrested in New York and Las Vegas for charges surrounding the operation of a $3.5 million-a-year illegal sports betting ring, reports in the publication MetroUS indicate.
The publication quotes a press statement from the Queen Attorney General, Richard A. Brown, revealing that a joint investigation with the New York Police organised crime unit had commenced in 2014 and culminated in raids of 10 premises in which police seized $93,000 and other evidence.
The joint Queens AG – NYPD statement claims that Sharon was the ringleader of the illegal enterprise, overseeing the activities of fellow defendants Jonathan Cianciotto, Joshua Handler, Emilio Testa, Christopher Hansen, Frank Nista, Vincent Zaccario and Gary Schreiber.
Each defendant is charged variously with enterprise corruption in an 85-count indictment. Other charges include promoting gambling, conspiracy and money laundering. The defendants will be arraigned in Queens County Supreme Court.
AG Brown said that individuals involved in bookmaking and gambling try to hide their illegal activities by using the Internet’s anonymity.
“Over the last few years, working with our law enforcement colleagues, we have taken down a number of these operations and put them out of business,” he said. “These cases, I believe, have put a significant dent in illegal gambling nationwide and have saved individuals across the country millions of dollars in gambling losses.”