Brent Beckley Sentenced to 14 Months in Prison

By Matt Kaufman, Rakeback.com Poker News Editor

Brent Beckley is now the 2nd individual who was indicted on April 15th, 2011 ("Black Friday") to receive a prison sentence (the first was John Campos).

Beckley is one of the original co-founders of Absolute Poker. He faced 5 charges on Black Friday, including bank fraud and money laundering charges.

Rather than fighting the charges against him or simply not returning to the United States like his brother-in-law and fellow Absolute Poker co-founder Scott Tom, Beckley decided to plead guilty to the charges and face the consequences.

He returned to the United States and pleaded guilty in December. Since then, he has received favorable treatment from Department of Justice prosecutors due to his willingness to cooperate and admit to his wrongdoings. Earlier this month, they recommended leniency in his sentencing.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan decided to take the prosecution's recommendation for leniency into account yesterday when he sentenced Beckley to 14 months in prison.

Of the 9 individuals indicted on Black Friday who have not received a prison sentence, 4 currently await sentencing and 5 have not yet fully dealt with the charges they face.

Rakeback.com will continue to report on this story in the coming months.