He knew when to fold ’em.
A career crook who duped American banks into processing billions of dollars in illegal Internet wagers struck a plea bargain this morning that could see him sprung from the slammer in less than two years.
Ira Rubin, 53, admitted disguising payments to three major online poker companies as purchases of jewelry, clothing and sports equipment from “non-existent Internet merchants.”
He said the scam allowed owners of the Web sites to move the money out of the U.S., where banks were otherwise “generally unwilling” to handle their funds because of a federal ban on Internet gambling.
The conspiracy, fraud and money-laundering charges to which Rubin pleaded guilty carry a maximum 55 years behind bars, but his deal with prosecutors recommends just 18 to 24 months when he’s sentenced May 17 in Manhattan federal court.
Rubin, who lives in Costa Rica, was among 11 people indicted last year in what became known among Internet gamblers as “Black Friday,” when the FBI seized the Web sites of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.
Rubin was busted in Guatemala while allegedly preparing to flee to Thailand, and he’s been held without bail since prosecutors said he had a criminal record stretching back more than 30 years and had a history of skipping bail.