One of the owners of Absolute Poker, formerly one of the largest internet poker sites, Brent Beckley also one of the 11 people indicted on Black Friday was handed a 14-month prison sentence by a New York federal court.
Beckley, 32, pleaded guilty to conspiring to break U.S. laws against gambling on the Internet. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud.
Beckley joined the Costa Rica based company in 2003 and later became head of payment processing.
“I fooled myself into thinking that what I was doing was OK,” Beckley told the presiding U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan upon receiving his sentence.
The judge said that Beckley deserved prison time despite his surrender and cooperation because “the sentence has to make clear that the government of the United States means business in these types of cases.”
Full Tilt Poker’s chief, Ray Bitar, surrendered to U.S. authorities earlier this month, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Absolute Poker was the sister website of UB (Ultimate Bet), also mentioned in the indictment.
