Founder of Absolute Poker Scott Tom seems to have completed his legal dealings with the United States government after paying $300,000 in fines and serving one week in jail. Tom is reportedly back in Antigua after completing a plea deal stemming from charges involving Black Friday.
Tom was hit with several felony charges from the infamous Black Friday of 2011, and finally came back to America in February. Tom had been on the run for several years now, and once back in the states, decided to plead not guilty and was then released on a $500,000 bond.
The attorney for Tom was able to reach a plea deal in the case and after pleading guilty over the summer, Tom got off by agreeing to a single misdemeanor charge. Tom was surprised that he was given a week in jail by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses, especially since he had already purchased his plane ticket to get out of the country.
Tom plead guilty to one count of being an accessory after the fact in connection with transmission of gambling information, which is a misdemeanor. As part of the agreement, Tom would pay $300,000 and was released on September 28th. During the sentencing, the attorney representing Tom, James Henderson, asked that his client be sentenced to time served. But he was then sentenced to seven days in jail and then after serving this time, was allowed to leave the country. The judge in the case stated that she did not feel Tom had served any time in jail and deciding a time served sentence would not be appropriate.
The punishment seems quite minimal considering that many players were victimized by Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, with the remissions process just now getting started. Players have went years without seeing the funds they entrusted to both sites, never knowing if they would ever be paid.
Thankfully, former players of both online poker sites are now seeing the lost funds returned to them. Just over the past few weeks, players have begun to report that the remissions process is moving forward with cash hitting their bank accounts.
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