Devin O’Connor, Casino.org
Billy Walters will remain behind bars after a federal appeals court dismissed his argument to overturn his five-year prison sentence and $10 million fine on grounds that the FBI leaked information about the case during the trial.
Walters, 72, one of the most successful Las Vegas sports gamblers in history, was found guilty in 2017 of orchestrating a six-year insider trading scheme with Tom Davis, the former chairman of Dean Foods. Davis couldn’t pay back amassed gambling debts owed to Walters, so he began providing him with inside information regarding the publicly traded food and beverage company that reported revenue of $7.7 billion in 2016.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled 3-0 in denying Walters’ appeal.
Walters received a full and fair trial in which there was overwhelming evidence to support his conviction,” Judge Denny Chin declared. The court admitted, however, that FBI leaks of grand jury testimony during the trial was “in some respects more egregious than anything Walters did.”
Walters claims to have built a $200 million fortune from sports betting in Las Vegas. But on the day he was found guilty in April 2017, he told reporters, “I just did lose the biggest bet of my life.”
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