Brent Beckley, a former employee of the online poker outfit, Absolute Poker, was sentenced to fourteen months in prison this week in a Manhattan U.S. District Court.  The presiding judge, Lewis Kaplan, made it clear during sentencing that he was not afraid to use Beckley as an example in order to dissuade others from committing similar crimes.

Beckley’s troubles began last year when the feds went after, and effectively took down, the three largest online poker companies operating in the United States.  In addition to Absolute Poker, where Beckley worked as the head of payment processing, the government targeted online poker giants, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.  Each of the three companies was forced to halt all U.S. operations when the government seized their respective Internet domain names.

Beckley was charged with both fraud and illegal gambling, and ultimately decided to turn himself in to authorities and plead guilty to both charges.  For his cooperation, Beckley received favorable comments on his behalf from prosecutors that were offered to the judge in the form of a presentencing memorandum.

As reported by the Associated Press, government prosecutors wrote, “Rather than offer tortured explanations for such conduct or simply try to evade capture, Beckley simply owned up to it.”

Prosecutors seemed especially impressed that Beckley returned on his own volition from Costa Rica, where Absolute Poker has its base of operations, knowing that he could very well end up in prison for his crimes.

Beckley apologized to the judge for his actions and explained that youthful immaturity had played a significant role in his convincing himself that he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Despite Beckley’s apology and the prosecutors commending him for taking responsibility for his actions, Judge Kaplan seemed unwilling to pass up an opportunity to send a strong message that crimes in business are a serious matter.

“The sentence has to make clear that the government of the United States means business in these cases, and it has to afford adequate deterrence to other people who are tempted to behave in the manner in which you behaved,” Judge Kaplan continued with, “You tried to circumvent the laws to advance the business. … And there is a whole lot of that going on in this country.”

From his statements, one can guess that the judge is more troubled by illegal business practices, in general, rather than specifically illegal online-gambling.

With so many states currently considering legalizing online gambling, following a recent ruling from the Department of Justice that opened the door for state-by-state legalization, what Berkley was doing – disguising customers’ payments for gambling to look as though they were payments for something else – will most likely soon no longer even be necessary.

In fact, seeing as Beckley has until the 1^st of October to report to prison, there is a strong probability that many states will have new online gambling laws in place before he begins serving his sentence.

But it seems that Judge Kaplan was more interested in making an across-the-board statement about business practices in the United States.  And for that reason he likely did not take into account the probability that online poker will soon be offered legally in many U.S. states when he considered an appropriate sentence for Beckley. The good news – for Beckley, at least – is that he will likely be eligible for parole before his full sentence has been served.

Also sentenced by Judge Kaplan was Ira Rubin, who was nabbed by authorities in Costa Rica trying to board a plane for Thailand. Labeled by Judge Kaplan as an “unreformed con man and fraudster” Rubin originally fled the United States in 2007 for his involvement in a $8.5 million credit card scam. Needless to say, Rubin was given a much harsher sentence than Beckley – three years in prison, in addition to the 1+ years he has already served while in custody as a flight risk.

Sources: Wall Street Journal