Published on: December 5, 2024, 03:46h.
Last updated on: December 5, 2024, 03:46h.
Pro poker player and sports betting tout Cory Zeidman has confessed in a federal court in New York to defrauding customers in his sports handicapping business.
Federal prosecutors alleged that the World Series of Poker bracelet winner and his co-defendants tricked customers into paying for betting advice by falsely claiming to have inside information, only to deceive them and pocket millions from their savings and retirement funds.
Boca Raton, Fla. resident Zeidman, 61, has accumulated nearly $700,000 in tournament winnings throughout his 25-year poker career. He secured his WSOP title in 2012 in 7-card stud. Previously, he was recognized for potentially slow-playing Jennifer Harman with a straight flush against her full house at the 2005 WSOP main event.
Scheme Yielded $25M
Between 2004 and 2020, Zeidman’s operation offered bettors access to fake information about player injuries, corrupt referees, and fixed sporting events – all proven untrue by prosecutors. The group promoted its services on national radio under fake names like “Gordon Howard Global” and “Ray Palmer Group.”
When bettors inquired about potentially investing in the scheme, they were falsely informed that the organization obtained injury details from doctors and exclusive insights on game results from television executives. This made sports betting seem like a low or no-risk endeavor, according to prosecutors.
Zeidman and his partners took in approximately $25 million in excessive fees from clients in exchange for information that was either fake or gleaned from online searches, as per court records.
Shortly after his 2022 arrest, Zeidman told PokerNews that he planned to plead not guilty, citing Nietzsche to assert his innocence.
“In the words of Nietzsche, ‘Everything the state says is a lie and everything it has it has stolen,’” he declared.
Victims Disagree
However, victims of Zeidman’s scheme, who reported him to Homeland Security, accused him of deceitful practices, outright lies, and exploitative tactics that took advantage of unsuspecting clients. This starkly contrasts with his depiction of himself as a person of high morals and integrity in his PokerNews statement.
Sports bettors sought Cory Zeidman’s advice before gambling their money — but it was Zeidman himself who was scoring big through his deceptive practices, outright lies, and high-pressure tactics that exploited unsuspecting clients,” special agent Charles Walker of Homeland Security in New York said in a statement.
Zeidman pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.