Published on: November 26, 2025, 11:45h.
Updated on: November 26, 2025, 11:45h.
- Gambling operator accepts guilty plea and agrees to testify against former sheriff.
- Lopez allegedly shielded a multimillion-dollar illegal gambling operation.
- Undercover operation reveals cash laundering schemes and corrupt relationships.
The previous operator of the Eclipse Social Club, an illicit gambling establishment in Florida central to the case against former Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez, confessed guilty on Tuesday to a single charge of money laundering.
Prosecutors claim that Krishna Deokaran paid Lopez substantial amounts of cash in exchange for safeguarding his multimillion-dollar gambling enterprise.
Deokaran is believed to have accepted a plea bargain for lesser charges in return for testifying against the disgraced sheriff and aiding the prosecutors in constructing their case.
Lopez, age 56, was arrested in June on allegations of racketeering and conspiracy linked to his purported role in a multimillion-dollar gambling network.
Prosecutors have indicated that Lopez had a varied role in supporting and expanding an unlicensed internet café operation throughout Central Florida, which generated over $21 million and was associated with rampant public corruption.
Lopez, who made history as Osceola County’s first Hispanic sheriff in 2021, has maintained his innocence regarding the charges.
Significant Bribes
Lopez’s relationship with Deokaran began in 2019 when he was campaigning for sheriff. The two developed a friendship, and Deokaran contributed $5,000 to his campaign, as reported by prosecutors.
Lopez introduced Deokaran to a third defendant in the case, Ying “Kate” Zhang, a real estate agent accused of importing illegal gambling devices from overseas, currently evading justice and thought to be in China.
In exchange for facilitating the introduction and promising protection for their operations once elected sheriff, Lopez allegedly received cash kickbacks ranging from $600,000 to $700,000, according to court records.
Deokaran’s confession came just a day after Lopez’s estranged wife, Robin Severance-Lopez, struck a deal with prosecuting authorities to plead guilty to money laundering and providing false statements to a judge in return for probation and no criminal record. She might also have to testify against her husband.
According to the prosecution, she played a subordinate role in the operation, handling a bag filled with cash intended for Lopez from Deokaran on the same day the sheriff appointed him a “special deputy.”
Federal Undercover Operation
Ultimately, Lopez’s safeguards failed to protect the operation from local and federal investigators who began probing the gambling network following a tip.
In 2024, Deokaran transferred $2.4 million in cash to an individual he thought was capable of laundering it. Unbeknownst to him, this man was an undercover agent from the Department of Homeland Security, to whom Deokaran bragged about his “special deputy” position and his ties to Lopez, as documented in court filings.
Lopez is scheduled to appear in court on December 8, facing the possibility of multiple decades in prison if found guilty.