In US Federal Court in Manhattan on Monday, Elie was asked by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan whether he was pleading guilty because he was, in fact, guilty. To which Elie responded: “Yes, your honor. I know that my conduct was wrong.” Elie is to be sentenced on Oct. 3, and ordinarily would face a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison. Under the terms of a plea agreement struck with prosecutors, Elie faces a sentence of six to 12 months. Prosecutors also revealed that Elie had agreed to forfeit $500k he earned from the online poker processing. Elie, who married 2005 Playboy Playmate Destiny Davis the day after Black Friday, remains free on $250k bail.
There has been no indication so far that Elie’s co-defendant Campos has struck a similar deal, suggesting the April 9 trial date will proceed as scheduled. Four other figures indicted on Black Friday – Ryan Lang, Ira Rubin, Brent Beckley and Bradley Franzen – have previously pled guilty to various charges. Five more – PokerStars’ Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate, Full Tilt’s Ray Bitar and Nelson Burtnick and Absolute Poker’s Scott Tom – remain ‘at large’.
FYI, we’ve received conflicting information as to whether the mustachioed gentleman reclining below is actually the face of Chad Elie, but given today’s events, we never know if we’ll ever get the opportunity to run it again, so once more with feeling…