A man who smuggled fake chips into an Atlantic City poker tournament has been sentenced to five years in prison, He also has to pay for clogging a casino's toilets.
Christian Lusardi, 43, entered a guilty plea to second-degree trademark counterfeiting and third-degree criminal mischief, according to the
Press of Atlantic City. He was playing in the Borgata Hotel Casino's Winter Poker Open in January 2014.
The Borgata tournament was suspended by the casino when the fake chips were discovered and then the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement issued an order canceling the tournament.
An audit of the Borgata chips used in the poker tournament found that 160 counterfeit $5,000 chips were put into play during the first two days.
Lusardi must repay $463,540 to the Borgata to tournament losses and $9,455 for plumbing damage at Harrah's Casino Hotel.
Lusardi, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was staying at Harrah's during the poker tournament when he flushed the fake chips down the toilet in the bathroom of his room, Almost 500 $5,000 chips and nine $25,000 chips – with a value of close to $2.7 million – were found in the pipes after hotel guests complained about a clogged sewer line.
"While Lusardi's bungled attempt to dispose of his phony chips was suitable for a Hollywood comedy, the truth is he committed very serious crimes in carrying out his high-stakes counterfeiting scheme," said acting New Jersey attorney general John J. Hoffman.
"In addition to facing a substantial prison sentence, he must pay nearly half a million dollars in restitution for sabotaging a major professional poker tournament," Hoffman said in a
release.
"Because of the large sums of money changing hands on their premises every day, casinos tend to attract counterfeiters, money launderers and other criminal schemers like Lusardi," said Elie Honig of the state's Division of Criminal Justice.
"That's why we work closely with the New Jersey State Police and the industry to maintain maximum vigilance and aggressively prosecute crimes in the casinos."
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