Another arrest has been made in connection with the Black Friday indictments from April 15th. Ira Rubin, a payment processor for each of the major online poker sites in the indictment, was arrested on Monday April 25th in Guatamala.
Rubin the latest to face Black Friday indictment charges
Rubin appeared in court in Miami on Wednesday. When asked about council, he told U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrea M. Simonton that he had “no idea” if he had council or not. “I signed an agreement with a lawyer in New York Friday. I have no idea whether he’s been paid yet. I haven’t been able to make a phone call since Monday.”
The attorney in question was Stuart Meissner. When the judge placed a call to Meissner, she was told that he had indeed not been paid for his service. As a result of the call, a hearing will be held on Friday April 29th to determine whether a Florida lawyer will be hired for Rubin’s May 2nd hearing.
Rubin is facing up to 65 years in prison on five different federal charges. Those charges are Conspiracy to Violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, Violations of the UIGEA, Operating an Illegal Gambling Business, Bank and Wire Fraud, and Money Laundering Conspiracy.
Rubin’s main role was that of payment processor for the three major online poker companies. According to the indictment unsealed on April 15th, Rubin “processed payments for various internet gambling companies, including each of the Poker Companies, by disguising the payments as payments to dozens of phony internet merchants.”
In addition to Rubin, John Campos, Chad Elie, and Bradley Franzen have all been taken into custody and arraigned. Each have been released on bond and have had their travel restricted while waiting for a trial date. The other defendants currently remain at-large including Full Tilt Poker owner Raymond Bitar who has stated that he expects to beat the charges.