Florida Lt. Governor Resigns Amid Allegations of $300 Million Web Cafe Scam

Florida Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll is just one of more than 50 people who’ve been questioned in a massive web cafe scam investigation amid allegations that the general public relations company of which she is co-owner did PR for Allied Veterans, which apparently fronted for the scam. Although not by herself charged with any wrongdoing in the unfolding scandal, Carroll stepped down from her post immediately, stating that although her PR firm was also perhaps not alleged to have been involved, she don’t want her ties to Allied to be a distraction to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s management.

Lawyer was Mastermind

Still a developing story, it would appear that 49-year-old Jacksonville lawyer Kelly Mathis had been the mastermind behind an enormous gambling ring that used Allied Veterans being a front to skim $300 million from Internet cafes in 23 Florida counties, too as six states.

Allied Veterans of the World, an organization that is nonprofit to aid veterans and in operation since 1979, is the target of the investigation. The group operated 49 Internet cafes in Florida between 2007 and 2012, and the ones cafes introduced some $300 million in revenues. The majority of that money should have gone to assist veterans in V.A. hospitals and clinics with their rehabilitation, but in reality, only $6 million of the take that is total a simple 2 percent, finished up being reported as charitable donations during that time.

Benefiting through the balance, according to allegations, were Mathis and three others, one of whom, Jerry Bass, 62, is a nationwide Commander of Allied Veterans himself. Chase Burns, 37, owner of International Web Technologies (IIT), is accused of using his technical know-how to run the cafes while skimming for himself and his partners. Authorities say IIT took in $68 million through the different gambling centers that were being operated under Allied Veterans.

The 4th member of this group, Johnny Duncan, 62, can be a professional scammer; in 1987 he was charged with creating a fake charity to sponsor bingo games, a ruse that managed to make it feasible for him not to pay any fees from his revenues in the game. Within two years, the scam had grown into South Carolina’s bingo network that is largest. Duncan was sentenced to six months’ probation and was then forbidden to operate bingo games in Florida. But you can’t keep a good hustler down.

All owned by Allied Veterans, have now been shut down, and some 300 bank accounts with $64.7 million have been confiscated at least 49 of these Internet cafes. Florida law enforcement claims more arrests is forthcoming, as political contributions made by Allied, and other gambling centers not directly operated by the charity, come to light.

MGM Stock Gets Boost as Kerkorian Eyes More Shares

Gaming news is like a dizzying ping pong match these days: one day it’s all doom and gloom (Atlantic City’s revenue slump) and the next its butterflies and roses (Genting building on the old Echelon site). Get prepared to whip your head to the left yet again; 95-yr-old Kirk Kerkorian’s private investment arm, L.A.-based Tracinda Corp., is looking into bumping its MGM Resorts Overseas shares from 18.6 percent up to 25 percent. The news headlines undoubtedly has given MGM stock a shot into the arm; its stock price closed at $13.25 in the brand New York Stock Exchange after the rumored increase, and closed up .84 cents a share (6.77 percent) with nearly five times the volume that is normal trades.

An Absolute Perhaps

The hubbub is made whenever Tracinda reported in a recently available Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it could make the increase that is aforementioned shares.

‘It is perhaps not definite that additional stocks would be purchased,’ said RBC Capital Markets gaming analyst John Kempf, talking with investors recently. ‘ However, within our view, there is no need to get this filing unless there was interest in [the company] increasing its position.’

Switching It Around

Ironically, it had been only over a ago that Tracinda let go of 20 million shares of MGM Resorts stock for $268 million, and a year before that, Kerkorian himself said that Tracinda might divest itself of its MGM shares altogether year.

Presently, Tracinda holds near to 91.2 million shares in MGM Resorts International, which runs ten premier Strip casino resort hotels, including the MGM Grand, Bellagio and The Mirage. Tracinda also has a 50 percent stake in the CityCenter development on the Strip. It additionally is majority owner of this MGM Grand Macau and has now a second property going up within the Cotai Strip region there.

MGM Says ‘No Comment’

Declining to comment on the possibility of the Tracinda purchase, MGM is feeling notably giddy with unique expansion plans today. In addition to searching at new properties in Massachusetts, Maryland and Toronto, MGM Resorts expects a dividend payment of $255 million because of its 51 percent stake in MGM Asia, which is being publicly traded on the Hong Kong Exchange.

MGM Resorts Chairman Jim Murren has said the company might also consider attempting to sell one or even more of its nevada properties, among others aswell, should the numbers make sense.

‘We remain positive on MGM, https://shmoop.pro/1984-by-george-orwell-part-one-summary/ as we continue to think the organization has several levers, particularly through its capital structure, to drive further increases in its stock price,’ said analyst Kempf.

NFL Player Quinton Carter Charged with Swindling Casino

NFL player and Denver Broncos safety Quinton Carter faces up to 18 years in jail after being arrested week that is last allegedly cheating at a Nevada casino. He’s been faced with 3 counts of committing a fraudulent work in a gaming establishment, all of which has a possible prison sentence of one to six years, and fine of up to $10,000.

It’s alleged that while playing $5 craps during the Texas facility casino in Las Vegas, Carter included chips to his bets on three separate occasions after the dice had been rolled. Safety officials assert they’ve video evidence showing Carter committing the fraudulent work, while Carter maintains his innocence and denied any wrongdoing to authorities upon their arrival.

The 24-year-old Carter was a fourth-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos in 2011 and made his debut in the NFL using the Broncos that same season, beginning ten games. He missed most of the 2012 season with a knee injury nevertheless, which he is still in the process of rehabilitating.

It’s not the very first time Carter has found himself in big trouble with the legislation. In 2011 he pled guilty up to a misdemeanor marijuana fee and agreed to counseling, which he subsequently failed to complete. He now faces a warrant charge for failure to complete counseling as a result.

Carter circulated a statement a days that are few his arrest in nevada in which he stated:

‘we am completely confident that when the facts emerge, I will be cleared. I am certainly sorry for the attention that is negative has brought the Broncos, our fans and the league. I will be fully concentrated on getting 100 % healthy and building a impact that is positive the Broncos this year.’

Carter additionally posted on Twitter: ‘Truly sorry for any negative attention this has taken to the Broncos, our fans and the league’.

The Broncos organization is looking at the problem, and Carter may face additional action that is disciplinary the group. It is unknown if the NFL is also looking into it.

Crown Casino Ripoff Takes $32 Million

Events at the Crown Casino in Melbourne have actually generated the casino that is famous cheated out of $32 million, probably the most anybody has ever was able to cheat from the casino since its establishment 19 years ago.

Little is known about the quantity involved in the cheat so far, but reports state that a roller that is high one or more accomplices managed to hack their means into the Crown Casino’s video surveillance system.

Rumours suggest that the gambler that is high-rolling fed information from those who had tapped into the surveillance system, which he used to cheat the machine for an inside knowledge of how to bet via a wireless transmission sent directly to him at the table informing him which cards to play.

Hardly any has been said in regards to the guy accountable, aside from the very fact that members of this staff at the Crown Casino said that the player that is foreign courteous and personable, giving no reason to suspect the person of foul play.

It was reported that the cheating was exposed over ‘eight arms of cards played in a short room of time’. However, it is yet to emerged whether the entire $32 million was won during these eight arms or whether it was merely these particular eight hands which drew the scheme to the light of the surveillance team. Possibly the cheaters simply got too greedy during these hands?

The Crown Casino is yet to shed much light on the events, but has said that the surveillance department at the venue ‘recently reported concerns over a sophisticated betting scam’. They included that the investigation, by using the local authorities therefore the Victorian gaming regulators, is ongoing, yet police state that the casino is yet to make a complaint that is formal.

Up to now, a member associated with the Crown Casino staff who liaisoned with VIP gamblers and high rollers was removed through the staff, and a VIP gambler from overseas had been hastily evicted from his room that is comped at Crown Towers.

A spokesperson additionally reported that the Crown Casino is in the position where it thinks a significant part of the $32 million will be recovered after the sophisticated scam.