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A New York State man has received a $250,000 penalty and no jail time in connection with a billion dollar international sports betting ring that shut down popular online site Legends.com.
Craig Hayner, 44, became the fourth defendant based out of the Albany area to receive a sentence with no jail time.
Others sentenced include Albany County Correction Officer James Cerniglia of Clifton Park, Latham-based bookmaker Joseph "Oink" Carucci and Christopher Socola, a carpenter from Clifton Park. All had to forfeit money after pleading guilty to gambling promotion. U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian, based in Albany, is overseeing the case in New York.
The investigation is tied to a multistate federal prosecution with defendants that include executives of now defunct Legends Sports (accounts taken over by WagerWeb.com) and the founder of TheGreek.com. In addition to the four Albany-area men, Thirty-four individuals and 23 entities from across the US and the country of Panama have already been indicted. Federal authorities are attempting to seize close to a billion dollars they claim was taken in by the organization dating back to 2004. Gambling911.com has learned that the Justice Department is having a tough time meeting those calculations after speaking with most of the defendants.
The US Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma is handling the brunt of this case with more arrests anticipated. A former employee of Legends Sports was revealed to have tipped off the Feds.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
