John Campos and Chad Elie Trial Date Set for March 12th

The first trial stemming from the April 15th “Black Friday” indictments have been set.   Unless something changes between now and then, John Campos and Chad Elie will stand trial on March 12th, 2011 for charges including running an illegal gambling business, bank fraud, money laundering, and violations of the UIGEA.

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan stated in a lower Manhatten court on Thursday that “I think it’s extraordinarily unlikely that the entire indictment will be dismissed.”  The judge listened to arguments from lawyer of both parties and seemed somewhat unpersuaded by their arguments.

John Campos’ lawyers argued that he was exempt from prosecution because the UIGEA exempts financial institutions from criminal liability.  In addition, his lawyer argued that if SunFirst Bank was exempt, then Campos should be exempt.  Judge Kaplan did not agree with the “premise of exemption of financial institutions” and asked how one makes a leaps from the bank being exempt to Campos being exempt.

Paul Clement, former U.S. Solicitor General, testified for Elie in court and argued that they couldn’t prosecute Elie because the law was not intended to be extraterritorial and PokerStars and Full Tilt operated outside the US.  Judge Kaplan retorted that old laws commonly evolve to cover matters that Congress never intended.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown was also in court to represent the government.  He argued that US based companies worked in conjunction with the offshore companies and thus were engaged in illegal gambling businesses.  He also argued that it was silly to think that the companies were exclusively foreign companies and just marketed heavily in the US.  Finally, he said that the fact that the IGBA does not provide a complete list of games doesn’t mean that poker should not be included.

Kaplan still has to make a decision on whether a jury will determine whether poker is illegal gambling or not.  Also, it appears that Ira Rubin will not be part of the trial as he has made an agreement with the government.  It was reported earlier in the year that he cut a deal in exchange for testimony.

At least in the case of John Campos and Chad Elie, it appears we have some type of timeline being established.  Of course, deals could still be struck before March and continuances granted.  As always, we will bring you more on this story as information becomes available.