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Tweets made by corporate raider-turned US President Donald Trump advisor Carl Icahn may be used in an insider trading trial of golf course developer and professional sports bettor Billy Walters.
Prosecutors claim a single tweet helped make Walters money back in 2013.
That tweet:
We currently have a large position in APPLE. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come.
Walters is on trial for allegedly receiving insider trading tips about dairy processor Dean Foods. The former chairperson of that company, Thomas Davis, testified last week that he had supplied Walters with the valuable insider information. The defense team tried painting Davis as lacking credibility.
Walters’ defense lawyer, Barry Berke, brushed off the suggestion that Icahn’s tweet resulted in criminal activity.
“Even if Mr. Icahn had shared the fact of his investment in Apple with Mr. Walters in advance of the tweet (of which there will be no evidence), and Mr. Walters then purchased Apple stock, there is no basis to suggest that would violate the securities laws,” Berke said in the memo.
Walters has long been the single most feared man in the world of sports betting.
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Billy Walters was once profiled in a segment for the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes
In 2001, an individual claiming to represent Walters showed up at a Costa Rican sportsbook demanding monies owed to the tune of $1 million. That sportsbook had been embroiled in a years-long dispute with the professional gambler. Walters lackey was then beaten to a pulp, not once, but twice.
The wife of another sportsbook owner, a kindergarten teacher, was rushing the battered and bruised individual to a local hospital when the sportsbook goons stopped her at an intersection and preceded to smash the windows of her brand new BMW, then dragged Walters man out of the car for a second round of beatings.
The professional gambler never admitted to sending the man to collect for him.
Walters also claimed to have never had a losing year. Not true for some of those who had worked for and gambled on Walters “supposed” plays.
One such individual was Kenneth Weitzner, who ran the EOG.com website, and formerly TheRx.com, from his Chesapeake, Virginia home.
For years Weitzner bragged on his posting forum and to offshore sports betting operators how he bet for Walters. The would-be psychiatrist claimed to use Walters “inside” information to his advantage. During much of that time he appeared to be successful and many a sportsbook owner would bet the plays they received from Weitzner. In 2010 Weitzner lost well over a million dollars gambling. He also lost his life.
He and his wife Jackie committed suicide by sealing the windows of their Chesapeake, Virginia mansion and lighting a charcoal grill. The couple died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Weitzner had set his genitalia on fire during the first attempt. He placed a hand-written sign outside the room that read “Do Not Resuscitate”. In an attempt to disassociate himself with Walters, Weitzner’ last words on his forum before the suicide were “I am not a runner, a bookie or an agent”.
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Sports bettor Kenneth Weitzner and his wife would commit double suicide after losing over a million dollars
In an eerie “coincidence”, the same night Weitzner and his wife took their own lives, someone mysteriously posted in the comments section of Gambling911.com under an article about Full Tilt Poker that Weitzner was cooperating with the feds. Full Tilt Poker would be named in a federal indictment one year later.
Of course there are those who believe the whole double suicide was fabricated and that Weitzner and his wife were placed in witness protection.
Weitzner once claimed that Walters would provide his runners with wrong plays if he ever found they were betting the plays themselves or providing them to sportsbooks. Gambling911.com cannot independently verify this claim.
In other news involving the Billy Walters trial, golfer Phil Mickelson told the press he would take the 5th if called to testify against him.
Mickelson was named as part of the investigation into Walters but has not been charged with any wrong doing.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
