$6 million in forfeited gambling funds given to law enforcement agencies

Thursday May 21,2015 :  ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES TO BENEFIT FROM ONLINE GAMBLING FINANCIAL SEIZURES
 
Albany and Saratoga Counties will get $6 million.
 
New York state U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian announced Wednesday that about $6 million in forfeited funds, taken from defendants in a major online gambling case, will be allocated to law enforcement agencies in the Albany and Saratoga Counties.
 
Speaking to TWC News, Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said: "The name of the game is, you hope at the end of a major investigation, you'll be able to grab funds to basically replace the funds you've expended on that investigation."
 
The money, part of forfeitures of $9.6 million earmarked for enforcement bodies that include the IRS and the FBI, comes from the 2013 bust of an illegal online gambling ring run by Philip Gurian, Michele Lasso and Alan Gould.
 
"Their business was so profitable, that in a phone call intercepted pursuant to a federal wire tap order, Gurian said that he was making $150,000 a day,” Hartunian said in a statement.
 
“Over a year period, at least $10 million in illegal gambling proceeds was deposited into accounts in the names of sham corporations in Panama, Andorra, and the Cayman Islands."