Jay Cohen, co-founder of defunct online gambling site World Sports Exchange (WSEX), is reportedly about to be sued by a disgruntled bettor. For those who might not be aware or who may have purged WSEX’s tortured existence from their memories, the site shut down last April after publicly admitting what its customers had known for years: it didn’t have the money to pay them. Within weeks of this announcement, WSEX co-founder Steve Schillinger was dead by his own hand, while Cohen chose the more difficult option of continuing to look at his own reflection in the mirror each morning.
Earlier this month, online betting affiliate Gambling911 reported that an Ohio man (artist’s impression pictured, holding utensil) had hired investigators to sniff out assets he believes Cohen spirited away in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands long before WSEX’s ‘withdrawal’ button became purely decorative. The Ohio bettor, who claims to have lost $70k when WSEX finally gave up the ghost, is hoping to connect with other WSEX customers to sue Cohen, although G911 declined to specify on what grounds. Nonpayment of debts? Fraud? Felonious ratbastardism?
Even if the outraged Ohioan can’t find Cohen’s hidden millions, the hope is that exposing his whereabouts could provide US authorities with sufficient cause to haul Cohen’s bulbous buttocks back to jail. Back around the turn of the millennium, Cohen spent 17 months in US federal prison after voluntarily returning to US shores in the misguided belief that he couldn’t possibly have violated the Wire Act because he was much too fat to be a tightrope walker. Following his release, Cohen gave an interview to CNBC in which he publicly admitted violating his parole conditions via his continued involvement with WSEX.
Despite Cohen’s prodigious belly and multiple chins, the chances of anyone spotting his ample silhouette on the horizon are slim. Cohen’s current low profile is a sharp turnaround from WSEX’s heyday in the late 1990s, when Cohen spent most of his workday cruising online gambling forums, badmouthing other operators for their alleged “lack of integrity.” The irony, much like the hog fat Cohen is probably licking off his fingers right this second, is delicious.
