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A Nevada district court has thrown out a claim against noted online gambling industry attorney Jeff Ifrah by which a former client asserted “malpractice”.
Chad Elie, a convicted online poker payment processor who was among those indicted during a sweeping crackdown on the industry April 15, 2011, alleged last April that Ifrah gave him misleading professional advice so that he could continue making millions of dollars in commission.
Attorney Ifrah was reportedly paid $4 million by Elie, including $1 million in commission for securing deals to process online gambling payments.
In his complaint, Elie claimed, among other things, “Ifrah hid critical documentation” and that he gave “wrong advice regarding poker processing so that he could make a windfall from Elie’s payment processing service as well as clients Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars.”
The complaint also alleged that Ifrah received a memorandum from the law firm of Akin Gump whereby government attorneys warned that third party online gambling processors were illegal. Ifrah, according to Elie’s claim, withheld this information from his client.
Elie also made the shocking assertion that Ifrah cooperated with federal agents to keep from being indicted himself.
In its findings this week, the Nevada district court ruled that Elie’s “malpractice” claims contradicted his own sworn testimony that he acted on his own and without the advice of counsel.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com publisher
