Adam Meyer, the sports betting tout accused of a violent extortion plot against a Wisconsin sports bettor, claimed he helped the US federal government seize over $750m from online sports betting operators.
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin federal court handling Meyer’s extortion, fraud and weapons charges unsealed documents filed by Meyer’s former lawyer Joel Hirschhorn, who Meyer fired earlier this year.
The documents flesh out Meyer’s original plans to employ a ‘public authority’ defense, justifying his illegal activities as being done at the behest of law enforcement agencies to support his Donnie Brasco-style undercover work.
Meyer, who formally headed up the Real Money Sports prediction service, was arrested last December after Wisconsin businessman/sports betting whale Gary Sadoff told authorities that Meyer had extorted $25m from him and threatened him with a gun if he didn’t cough up even more money.
According to documents Hirschhorn filed with the court in March, Meyer began snitching in 2001 after being indicted on unspecified charges. Hirschhorn claimed a sealed motion in a different federal case contains a request for a reduced sentence due to Meyer having provided assistance to law enforcement in other matters. The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reported that Meyer had been convicted of fraud after presenting bogus cashiers checks to tribal casinos in Connecticut.
Meyer claimed to have cooperated with a dozen government agencies – including the FBI, IRS, Secret Service and the New York Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit – resulting in the arrest of “at least 30″ individuals as well as the dismissal of a Secret Service agent and a US Treasury Department staffer. Hirschhorn said Meyer’s work also led to the seizure of “at least $750m from illegal offshore bookmaking operations by an FBI-led task force.”
To bolster Meyer’s (since abandoned) plan to plead insanity, Hirschhorn said Meyer’s undercover work had required him to befriend “members of the Mafia, loan sharks, extortionists, bookmakers, offshore bookmaking organizations, high profile and large wager gamblers.” Hirschhorn said Meyer’s alleged association with these undesirables led to a deterioration of his “executive functioning” capabilities.
Meyer’s trial is scheduled to commence in February. In the meantime, he’s being detained in Wisconsin after violating his bail agreement by failing multiple drug tests. Having abandoned his original Donnie Brasco defense, perhaps Meyer’s current legal reps could employ a Donnie Darko defense, in which Meyer claims a giant bunny rabbit named Frank made him do it?
