Online betting mogul cops plea, coughs up $43m in gains

Pay to Play

I guess he forgot that, even if you don't run your business in the USA, you still have to play off the politicians. Where's Vito Corleone when you need him?

America - World Police

America F**k Yeah!

USA...

They'd have gotten a lot more dosh if they'd just taxed him.

Retirement plan

So, this guy gets to spend the next four years at Club Fed, and only payed $43 million. Holy cow. Even on a normal profit margin (in manufacturing) of 30%, that's $300 million profit from the first year of business! As a service based company (with most operations automated through websites), margin should be closer to 60%, or $600 million for that first year. As they were the primary stockholders at the IPO, that entitled them to 30% each of perferred stock, equating to $180 million (each!) for the first year profit. And they pay only $43.65 million back...

So, let's assume he blows $10 million a year from 2004 - 2009 (gotta work for that one!), leaving him (only) $130 million. Let's call the fine $50 mil, and he is left with $80 million. Stashed in another Swiss account at 5% (compounded monthly - most deposits over $50 mil are eligible for this), and he makes $17.6 mil just for sitting around and being taken care of by the US.

Now, will he really be allowed to wallow in criminal luxury, or will he be sent to a "real" prison? Will it be considered that his life is in danger in "real" jail and therefore subject to confinement to somewhere more posh? Either way, if he can "tough it out", he is set for life.

And that's assuming that those six years of running the company from 1998 - 2004 made him nothing. Yeah, right.