Arrested and indicted in a day

A professional poker player was arrested and indicted on the same day for his role in heading up a sports betting organization that allegedly duped victims out of tens of millions of dollars.

conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering conspiracy

According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, (USAO-EDNY), Cory Zeidman was charged on Wednesday with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. The charges are in relation to Zeidman’s predatory sports wagering racket operating out of Florida and Long Island.

Zeidman’s two-count indictment was unsealed in US District Court for the EDNY on the same day authorities arrested him in Florida, where he resides in Boca Raton. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Zeidman’s initial appearance in relation to the charges will be at the federal courthouse in Miami. ?

Zeidman’s sports betting group, which was slick enough to place ads on national radio to attract investors, allegedly conned its clients out of millions by claiming to possess inside information on professional and collegiate games.

Confidence tricksters

Via radio, Zeidman’s group allegedly promoted itself as a go-to firm for sports betting advice. Zeidman and his cronies then convinced interested clients that the group had inside information on sporting events that would ultimately benefit bettors. Victims paid money for this information, which the DOJ said was “either fictitious or obtained from an internet search by defendant and his co-conspirators.”

using nothing more than people’s love for sports and his clever words wrapped around a fraud”

Daniel Brubaker, US Postal Inspector in Charge, said Zeidman bankrolled his lavish lifestyle “using nothing more than people’s love for sports and his clever words wrapped around a fraud.”

Ricky Patel, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York, said the HSI and its partners would continue to bring fraudsters such as Zeidman — “who finance their lavish lifestyles by concocting ways to bamboozle the innocent” — to justice.

Predatory objectives

Patel added the main objective of alleged fraudsters like Zeidman was “lining their pockets with ill-gotten cash.” 

As the USAO-EDNY shared via Twitter, Zeidman’s allegedly ill-gotten gains bankrolled his high-roller lifestyle, which included poker tournaments:

Zeidman lived the high life on the back of his group’s alleged vampire-like preying upon victims who fell for the notion that inside sports betting information equated to easy money.

Instead, Patel said, the group was allegedly trafficking “nothing but lies and misinformation” that left victims’ “lives in financial ruin and their bank accounts empty.”