D-Boat owner spends week in US jail, returns home to Antigua

October 9, 2017

ScottTom Cards Chat — Scott Tom (CardsChat.com)

Scott Tom, the co-founder of Absolute Poker, has returned to his home in Antigua after serving a week in a United States jail on illegal gambling charges, according to reports from CalvinAyre.com, an online gaming news website.

Tom, who is a St Kitts and Nevis citizen by investment, was originally indicted in the US in 2011 on illegal gambling and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges, which are felonies. He was accused by prosecutors of breaking the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the same gaming law which Antigua and Barbuda has successfully disputed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

In February of this year, nearly six years later, Tom voluntarily returned to the US to face charges. On May 31, Tom reached a deal with federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of being an accessory after the fact in the transmission of gambling information.

As part of his plea deal, Tom agreed to forfeit US$300,000 and was released on bail ahead of his sentencing on September 28, when US Judge Barbara Moses would decide his punishment. Court records show, at the sentencing, Tom’s lawyer James Henderson requested that Tom be sentenced to time served, to which the prosecution did not object.

However, Judge Moses ordered Tom to spend seven days behind bars before he was allowed to leave the United States. Moses reportedly didn’t feel that Tom had actually served any time in jail during the booking process and thus a sentence of ‘time served’ was not appropriate.

After the 40-minute hearing, Tom was spared the requirement of supervised release, meaning that upon completion of his seven-day sentence, Tom had no obligations other than payment of the $300k forfeiture.

Tom, a US Citizen, took up residence in Antigua after April 15, 2011 (dubbed Black Friday in the online poker world) when the US federal government filed charges against the three largest online poker companies which included Cereus, parent company of Absolute Poker, which Tom co-founded.

When Absolute Poker collapsed after US officials seized their bank accounts, it was discovered that the company did not have enough cash to refund player’s deposits which has made Tom unpopular in the online gambling community.

A separate company, PokerStars was also shut down by the US government, but it subsequently reached a deal with federal prosecutors to pay the government US$731 million. It was announced in April that money left over from that deal was sufficient to compensate the victims of Absolute Poker’s fraud.

Scott Tom’s partner at Absolute Poker, Brent Beckley, was sentenced to 14 months in prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.

Tom remained in friendly Caribbean islands at that time, somehow avoiding extradition to the US. It was at this time that he received a St Kitts and Nevis passport. He, at some point, moved to Antigua (perhaps because of the WTO judgement against the US which was of interest to his case) where he set up D-boat, a floating restaurant and water park, in 2013.

D-boat, a popular restaurant and tourist attraction, is owned by Scott Tom.

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3 COMMENTS

Real Talk October 9, 2017 At 11:15 am

Why is he not living in St. Kitts and Nevis?
- white rabbit October 9, 2017 At 7:23 pm
  
  cuz Antigua and Barbuda is fighting the US on the very same principles under which he was charged.
D.Quinn October 10, 2017 At 3:20 pm

Its amazing how they are so ready to charge and collect funds from scott bit still cannot see fit to pay the Antiguan government their $200 million settlement which we won in the WTO panel/court…. they tried to settle for 2mil.. what a spit in the face, by right the gov rejected this settlement oit of the “respect” and relationship we have always had with the US… Its about time tje us respect other countries and do right as they ALWAYS expect other countries to do right by them. Respect is a 2 way street and us islanders KNOW THIS. As for Scott i wish him the best going forward as a contributor to the twin island federation.

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