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Frat Brothers busted after 'fixing' Breeders Cup Bet

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by rockHEAD, Nov 13, 2002.

  1. rockHEAD

    rockHEAD Member

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    Three Charged with Fixing Breeders Cup Bet
    Tue Nov 12, 4:39 PM ET
    By Ellen Wulfhorst


    WHITE PLAINS (Reuters) - Three former college friends turned themselves in on Tuesday to face fraud charges for rigging horse racing bets to try to win $3 million in an attempted theft believed to be the biggest in U.S. racing history.

    The three men, all 29 years old, used their access to a racing industry computer system to win the huge payout at the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup, America's richest day in horse racing, prosecutors say.

    The winnings of approximately $3.6 million were not paid out because authorities immediately grew suspicious because the accused men held the only six winning "pick six" wagers that included a horse named Volponi, who won the well known race at Arlington park outside Chicago at odds of 44-1.

    The three men, who were members of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Drexel University in Philadelphia in the early 1990s, turned themselves in at the U.S. attorney's office in White Plains after warrants were issued for their arrests.

    They now face charges of wire fraud conspiracy, which carry possible five-year prison sentences. However, when they are formerly indicted later, they are likely to face a broader range of charges, U.S. attorney James Comey said at a news conference.

    "Greed has a way of overcoming people's judgement," Comey, U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, said outside the federal courthouse in White Plains, N.Y. a suburb of New York City. "When they go for this big a payday, somehow we find out about it."

    According to the criminal complaint, one of the men Derrick Davis, of Baltimore, Md., placed the "pick six" wagers by telephone through an off-track betting account in upstate New York.

    A "pick six" bet requires the bettor to pick the winner in six consecutive races.

    That same day, computer programmer Christopher Harn of Newark, Delaware, allegedly went to his job at Autotote Systems Inc., which handles racing bets, and prosecutors say he hacked into the system to turn Davis' wagers into winners.

    WINDOW OF TIME

    Harn allegedly took advantage of a window of time in which the bets were not transmitted until after the fourth race of the day.

    Davis' winning tickets picked a single winner in each of the first four races and all of the horses in the last two races, which included the Breeders' Cup.

    The strategy meant that if the horses picked in the first four races were winners, he was guaranteed to win the "pick six," prosecutors said.

    The bets were not transmitted until the fourth race, giving Harn a chance to alter Davis' wagers, authorities said. Harn and Davis talked throughout the day of the race by cellphone, the complaint noted.

    Comey said the case was reminiscent of the famous 1973 movie "The Sting," in which gamblers try to take advantage of the lag time before race results are reported.

    "The movie has already been made, but with much better looking people, Paul Newman and Robert Redford," Comey said.

    The third man charged was Glen DaSilva. Harn allegedly fixed bets earlier in October for DaSilva. As the men gave themselves up, Harn's attorney, Daniel Conti, said his client maintained his innocence.

    The case raises serious issues of security in the racing industry, which has begun to look at possible flaws in its system, said Michael Hoblock, chairman of the New York State racing and Wagering Board.

    "This has certainly gotten the attention of the entire racing industry," Hoblock said. "The fact this fraud was even attempted signals the racing industry needs to tighten its security."

    Hoblock said this was the largest case of attempted fraud in the industry that he was aware of.

    --

    HA-HAAAAA!
    [​IMG]
     
  2. BobFinn*

    BobFinn* Member

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    Too bad they weren't playing horeshoes:)
     
  3. Baqui99

    Baqui99 Member

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    Excellent plan, except they got too greedy and went for the "pick six."
     
  4. PhiSlammaJamma

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    They could have nickle and dimed their way to three million. Dummies.
     
  5. BobFinn*

    BobFinn* Member

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    Is that Lisa Malosky?
     

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