Judge delays Campos plea deal
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan suggests US government is attempting to "walk away" from case.
John Campos, one of the payment processors indicted on Black Friday, has seen Judge Lewis Kaplan refuse to immediately accept his guilty plea.
Campos reached a plea deal to the US government on Tuesday, just two weeks before he and fellow defendant Chad Elie were due in a Manhattan court. Ex-banker Campos faces six charges including two counts of operating an illegal gambling business, and one allegation of money laundering conspiracy.
The plea deal would have seen Campos plead guilty to a misdemeanour charge rather than a felony, which averted the scheduled trial next month but also would also mean he would face no more than six months in jail.
However judge Kaplan objected the plea, questioning why the US Government was “basically walking away from the prosecution”. Kaplan, who has the power to reject any plea deal brought before the court, said that he would decide whether or not to accept the plea at a 27 June sentencing.
Assistant US Attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown described the plea deal as an acknowledgement that there were trial risks given the legal opinions previously provided to Campos by representatives of egaming operators with regards to the processing of gambling-related payments.
He also said that the case primarily focused on those individuals who duped banks into accepting gambling transactions by miscoding them, and that Campos’ role only came at the “tail end of the conspiracy.”
The expected trial of Elie and Campos on 9 April was the only to be scheduled as a result of the Black Friday indictments. Elie reached a plea deal of his own on the same day as Campos.
Judge Kaplan had earlier rejected multiple motions for dismissal from Elie and Campos, the most recent coming in February.