by Mike Fish, ESPN
Billy Walters, the greatest and most controversial sports gambler ever, is taking on his biggest long shot yet with a request of the U.S. Supreme Court to review his April 2017 insider trading conviction.
In the wake of a federal appeals court having upheld his conviction and five-year prison sentence, Walters’ attorneys took the last-ditch legal option on May 3 of asking the Supreme Court to order the lower court to send up the record of the case for review. The court typically only takes up cases of national significance or those of precedential value. Even then, officials acknowledge the court accepts a mere 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year.
Walters, who in his prime had the financial muscle and acumen to move betting lines worldwide, was convicted in 2017 on conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges after prosecutors said he illegally made $40 million while trading Dean Foods Co. stock from 2008 to 2015. Walters, 72, was accused of using nonpublic information from his friend and former Dean Foods chairman Thomas Davis, who later cooperated with the government.
The case drew additional notoriety because it dragged in veteran pro golfer Phil Mickelson. Prosecutors said Mickelson made nearly $1 million after Walters told him in 2012 to buy Dean Foods stock. Mickelson gave the profits to Walters to cover gambling debts he owed him, prosecutors said. Though Mickelson never faced charges in the case, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued him over the stock trades, and Mickelson agreed to repay the money.
The gist of Walters’ 36-page petition is he was charged as a result of a rogue investigation led by FBI agent David Chaves, who acknowledged the probe was at a dead end prior to his leaking grand-jury information, wiretap evidence and other case details to reporters for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. After the FBI’s New York office and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York discovered the leaks, Walters’ attorneys alleged in their filing to the Supreme Court that “they deliberately turned a blind eye in order to take advantage of the leakers’ misconduct and use it to resuscitate a dormant investigation.”
Rest is here.
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