Commit a Crime, Get Sentenced to Playing in Poker Tournaments

Written by:
C Costigan
Published on:
Aug/10/2010

 

We at Gambling911.com can’t make this stuff up.  It’s a story about a man in New Mexico who has been ordered to play in poker tournaments as a means to recoup the $440,000 plus he swindled as part of a stock scam.

You read this right.  We reported on it the other day.  But it’s one of those stories we can’t just let go of so quickly.

Samuel McMaster, Jr. admitted to 26 felony charges of securities fraud and faced up to 12 years in prison.

Then came the plea bargain.

Play in poker tournaments, win all of the money back, and McMaster Jr. is a free man….free to scam others and maybe he will be sentenced to play in other poker tournaments.

“There’s nothing to indicate he is a violent threat to society,” New Mexico prosecutor Phyllis Bowman.

Neither was Bernie Madoff we suppose.

McMaster has to make restitution payments of $7,500 a month for the next six months by playing in various poker tournaments, presumably they can be online.  If he can’t swing it, McMaster must appear back before a judge for sentencing. 

Hey, at least we don’t have to pay for McMaster’s prison stay with our hard earned taxes. 

This might be a good time to promote Saturday’s special Bounty Hunt Tournament at DoylesRoom.com, which we at Gambling911.com encourage McMaster to play in.  There SHOULD be a bounty on this man’s head.

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher 

Syndicate