Update: Campos Guilty Plea Gets Complicated

Update: Campos Guilty Plea Gets Complicated
New York judge wonders why DoJ immediately accepted guilty pleas Despite expectations that he will immediately enter a guilty plea before a New York judge, a Black Friday indictee John Campos encountered some complications on the way. The problem seems to be Judge Lewis A. Kaplan who wondered why the government was 'walking away from the case', refusing to immediately accept a guilty plea. On the contrary, he ordered the prosecution to report in writing why they have agreed to a plea bargain that would see Campos convicted of a misdemeanour charge rather than a felony. The judge asked: "You're basically walking away from the prosecution?", adding that he can reject the plea deal reached this week between the government and Campos, questioning the severity of the outcome after Campos admitted that the bank where he served as vice chairman of its board of directors and a part owner had processed $200 million in gambling proceeds between late 2009 and last year. Kaplan also stated he will decide whether to accept the plea at a June 27 sentencing. An attempt at explanation arrived from two Assistant U.S. Attorneys, one of which, Andrew Goldstein said that Campos would face the stipulated sentencing range of up to six months in prison if he pleaded guilty to a felony, whereas the other, Arlo Devlin-Brown told the judge that there are trial risks, especially having in mind that Campos learned from legal people working on behalf of the gambling companies that it might not be illegal to process the money for Internet gambling companies. "There would be a risk that a jury on that basis could have a problem," Devlin-Brown concluded. Entering his plea, Campos said that SunFirst Bank, based in St. George, Utah, began processing gambling proceeds after two gaming companies, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, promised to invest $10 million in his bank and that he did not believe the investment was in return for the processing of gambling proceeds. According to the government, Campos' co-defendant Chad Elie was the one to persuade Campos to let his bank process money for the foreign-based online poker sites.
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