Originally Posted by jacosta24
you get to criticize druff when you have even a tiny fraction of his poker success.
Hello Sanlmar,
Given his closeness to the situation and potential for subpoena, the individual you know as "Dan Druff" has referred your queries to my office.
First off, it is important for you to understand that Mason Malmuth did not post anything on this forum. He does not have an account here. Someone on this site reposted Malmuth's 2+2 post regarding his prediction about Micon's final judicial fate. I believe Malmuth was engaging in an off-the-cuff guess, and was not claiming any sort of legal expertise or insider knowledge.
You have inquired what remedies the state of Nevada would have had regarding the cessation of services of Sealswithclubs.eu. The short answer is that they really wouldn't have much power over the situation, unless they really wanted to take unprecedented countermeasures, such as black ops cyber attacks. Given that the server was hosted in Romania, and the domain was of a .eu suffix, the state of Nevada (and even the US government) would face significant legal hurdles in physically taking the site down. Furthermore, they do not have authority to block Americans from accessing any website. It is possible for the state of Nevada or US government to simply pressure the Romanian server to take down the site, in order to prevent potential legal trouble or government retaliation. Often times, these service providers will yield to the pressuring government, as it's not worth a few hundred bucks a month to go to war with such a powerful entity. There are also legal procedures to remove the .eu domain from anyone utilizing the domains to break US laws, but this tends to be ineffective, as the site in question simply hops to another top level domain, and it becomes a tedious game of whack-a-mole. In most cases, it is much easier for the government to simply investigate the site and go after the individual(s) involved with it. If it were simple and painless to remove unlicensed sites from being accessible to Americans, Bovada would have been gone a long time ago.
Regarding swcpoker, I believe the NGC is choosing not to go after that site as a form of future leverage. swcpoker by itself is a lesser offense than sealswithclubs, because Micon has never lived in Nevada (or the US) while running swcpoker. By that logic, if Micon can beat the charge involving sealswithclubs, he can certainly also beat any charges related to swcpoker on the same premise. Therefore, filing additional charges involving swcpoker at this point is redundant.
What do I mean by leverage?
This case is complicated by the fact that after Micon's home was searched due to suspicion of a crime, he relocated outside the country and started a new website committing that exact same crime. That new site is still running to this day, even in the face of all the recent legal pressures he is facing.
In many criminal cases, the ability to obtain a strong conviction comes from perception. Even if you have the suspect dead to rights as far as evidence of guilt, there always exists some doubt when the jury is factored in, as juries are non-legal-practicing human beings who often vote on emotion. Furthermore, a sympathetic judge may also issue an inappropriately light sentence. Therefore, it is to the prosecutor's advantage to portray the defendant as an unsympathetic and vile individual.
Had Bryan Micon simply shut down sealswithclubs on February 11 after the search and seizure, taken an apologetic tone, and feigned ignorance of the fact that Nevada gaming laws apply to bitcoin, he could have been in fairly good shape.
Had Mr. Micon contacted my office on February 11, I would have advised him to do the following:
- Stay put, and fully cooperate
- Acknowledge that you have portrayed yourself as upper management of the site, but that this was simply posturing from both a marketing and personal ego standpoint. Offer examples from your past of grandiose claims of importance which were greatly exaggerated for effect. Create a sympathetic portrait of a lovable loser who desired to be seen as successful for once.
- Stress that you have no knowledge of the identities of the actual owners of Seals. Make it clear that you never had any access to any of the funds going in or out of the site. Make it clear that the site already existed prior to your involvement, and that you had an agreement to masquerade as upper management in order to bring some trustworthiness to the operation, but in reality you had zero power over its operations.
- Promise to cease involvement in any gambling sites, bitcoin or otherwise, now and forever.
The above would not have been foolproof, and he easily still could have gone to jail, especially given that the search and seizure yielded damning evidence such as server invoices for sealswithclubs. Still, the prosecutors would have seen two inherent flaws in their case, namely that there are no specific laws on the books regarding the wagering of bitcoin, and that Micon never was involved in sending or receiving the bitcoin that were being wagered, nor were the servers located in his house.
Unfortunately, Micon's actions since February 11th were quite damaging to himself.
Fleeing the country and setting up a new site which is virtually identical (and still serving Nevada residents) looks very bad. Not only does this anger the prosecution, but it removes all forms of sympathy and doubt that might exist on the part of the jury, who perhaps could have been otherwise convinced that Micon believed bitcoin gambling to be legal. After the February 11 raid, he could no longer claim such ignorance, and jumping to Antigua to continue committing the crime unmolested is unfortunately very damning to his case and courtroom image. In addition, the fact that he was now the sole owner and operator of the new site also removed believability of claim that he was simply the marketing guy from the last one.
However, as bad as that was, continuing to operate swcpoker after the arrest warrant was issued on April 27 was even worse. At least prior to April 27, Micon could have claimed that the search was not indicative he was guilty of a crime, and that he continued running bitcoin gaming because he felt that the search and subsequent analysis would turn up proof of his innocence. After April 27, he was actually charged with the crime of running sealswithclubs, and yet continued running a nearly identical site despite that charge. The final remaining shreds of sympathy or compassion of the prosecution, judge, or jury are now completely out the window.
By not attempting to go after swcpoker, the prosecution gains the advantage of the terrible perception of Micon which grows worse each day he continues to operate that site. He has obtained top-flight counsel and is apparently trying to fight the charges, but yet still can't bring himself to take down the new site. Is he actually going to go to court, ask them to dismiss all charges, and yet acknowledge that the new site he created committing the exact same offense is still operational? Can you imagine how that would look? I can tell you that I've never seen anything like it in my years of law practice and case study since I first passed the bar in New Mexico back in 1993.
In summary, the prosecution is letting Micon string a longer and longer rope for himself with swcpoker, and are ready to tie it into a noose when he finally gears himself up to fight the existing charge. It's one thing to lose your head and set up a new site after your partners get scared and take the first site down. It's another to have the chutzpah to keep running that new site while fighting a charge related to the old one.
If Chesnoff and Schonfeld are worth even 1% of the lofty retainer they require, they should be strongly advising Micon to take down swcpoker immediately.
jacosta, you seem like a good kid who really loves poker, but you are ten years too late
you can't give shit to a bracelet winner who is worth 7 figures when you blog about winning freerolls
know your role (and roll) and it will be a lot easier for you around here
bruh, you have 19 blog posts..... just hold this L fuckboiii
let's be honest. who actually plays poker here?
i just come for the luls
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