Quote:
Originally Posted by mrtoodles View Post
I am a criminal defense attorney in CA. I've played on the Stones Live game, though not against Mike, and I've given this a lot of thought over the last few dsys.
The meat of the charges against Mike would be violations of Penal Code Sec. 332
PC 332 doesn't apply to this case. If you find a case where this was applied to poker I will correct my response, but I can't find any. I have however talked to a prosecutor who prosecuted a few people for this statute. It came up in conversation one day. Three card monte and like scams used to be a real problem in the 70s apparently.
Poker is regulated and well defined. Theft by deception and wire fraud are the only things here. The gaming statutes only care about player banked games.
You are correct in the stacking of charges, but this is liberal California, a one party pseudo-socialist country. Without the feds this guy does little or no time. This is a decently sized civil case. Prosecuting with limp laws and leftist judges won't change the behavior. As a rabid Trump, Duterte, and Bolsonaro backer, even I don't want to see Californians' money wasted on a state criminal case versus this jerk. It's an entirely futile pursuit.