Offshore Bookie, Poker Player James Giordano Pleads Guilty

The controversial owner of an offshore sports betting operation based mainly on the island of St. Maarten has plead guilty.  The case was like something out of a James Bond film whereby authorities seized a laptop left by Giordano during a brief departure from his Long Island hotel room.  The investigation also involved several wire taps and informants.

Over the years, Giordano, an avid poker player in Las Vegas, had created many enemies in the world of sports betting.  The world of sports betting message boards became privy to a public spat between Giordano and his brother during the late 90's whereby the two men accused one another of various improprieties both personal and business-related.

Giordano's organization is alleged to have taken bets in the millions from US citizens.  One of his associates has already been released from prison and is on parole following a one year sentence.

"It's hypocritical," Giordano, who made his home in Fort Lauderdale, tells New Times. "If you want to bet the [New York] Giants, you have to fly to Vegas."

The Queens District Attorney's Office, under the leadership of Richard Brown, oversaw the investigation.  Brown has been one of the most aggressive figures in combating illegal sports betting in the New York City area.  Authorities accused Giordano and his co-conspirators of laundering and stashing away "untold millions of dollars" using shell corporations and bank accounts in Central America, the Caribbean, Switzerland, Hong Kong and elsewhere.

Authorities began an investigation in 2004, when an undercover detective working another case overheard a man who reputedly had ties to the Lucchese crime family discussing payment of a gambling debt related to Giordano's website.

Soon, authorities obtained a search warrant and hacked into computer servers in St. Maarten and Costa Rica, where he'd expanded. They mirrored the transactions of dozens of bettors. In March 2005, local police showed up at Giordano's office after receiving a report that one of the employees had sexually assaulted a woman. They noticed brochures and other documents that suggested they had come across a gambling operation, and called the FBI.

Agents arrived the next day with a search warrant and seized the computers and paper records.

But there was no bust, at least not immediately. All wagering had been done online and offshore. "We instructed [our employees] never to take a bet," Giordano says. "They didn't even know how to take a bet. It was strictly customer service."

The federal raid in Florida seized Giordano's house, $288,000 in cash, and $50,000 in gambling chips from the Bellagio. Authorities also froze Swiss bank accounts.

Authorities in New York, who led the investigation, claimed Giordano's company, PlayWithAl, booked more than $3.3 billion in sports wagers over 28 months. (Giordano says the numbers were preposterous.).  Giordano's books went by various names over the years including, most notably perhaps being Action Sports, which a number of sports bettors claim to have been stiffed by following its closure in 2000.

While Giordano utilized the Internet to take bets, his business was more of a clearing house operating offshore with agents collecting in the United States.  Much of his business relied on phone betting.  Industry experts often referred to these types of cases (many of which are prosecuted by Brown's office) as "Internet Plus".  In other words, they were not investigated for Internet-specific crimes such as the Wire Act of 1963.

Giordano pleaded eventually pleaded guilty to promoting gambling and accepted a sentence that would put him in Rikers for five months, according to the Miami New Times report. He agreed to surrender slightly over $1 million and waived his right to get back $1 million more. His 26 codefendants gave up more than a million total with some of them, as mentioned above, serving jail time.  In some cases it was an "either or" situation where defendants were given the option to pay a hefty fine or serve a prison sentence.

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher