Home / Poker News April 2011 / Black Friday Fallout – Ira Rubin Arrested in Guatemala
Black Friday Fallout – Ira Rubin Arrested in Guatemala
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2011-04-28 05:30
One of the 11 people indicted on various counts tied to
Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and
Absolute Poker on April 15 has been arrested in Guatemala on Monday. Ira Rubin faces a litany of charges, being accused among many other things of conspiracy against the 2006 UIGEA on no fewer than 3 counts, linked to the three above mentioned online poker operations.
The charges also include 3 counts of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling operation, money laundering conspiracy as well as conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
Rubin was apparently one of the critical gears in a mechanism allegedly used by the three online poker operations to circumvent the provisions of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Rubin was the one who disguised payments sent to the three online poker operators from US accounts as funds headed towards various phony internet merchants.
Rubin, clad in a tan prison jumpsuit with his hands cuffed, appeared in front of Magistrate Judge Andrea M Simonton in Miami on Wednesday. He said he didn’t know whether a defense lawyer had been hired to represent him or not, as he hadn’t been able to make a phone call since his arrest on Monday.
The judge then called the attorney who was supposed to represent Rubin, to learn that no payments had been made towards the counsel and therefore he could not legally represent the defendant in court.
With that in mind, the hearing was re-scheduled for May 2, giving Rubin time to hire a local legal representative.
After the hearing, Rubin – his hands still cuffed – was taken back to the Miami Federal Detention Center to await his May 2 hearing there. There was no word about the position of pro-poker organizations like the PPA on the matter.
