Man from Borgata Scandal Sentenced for Selling Counterfeit DVDs
10 years ago

08 Apr
Christian Lusardi, who was the center of Borgata Winter Open counterfeit chip scandal, has been sentenced to five years in prison. However, the chip scandal is not a reason he ended up in federal prison and was ordered to pay $1.1m fine. The federal prosecutors were more interested in his counterfeit DVD business and $1.3m that he made by selling DVDs.
When Lusardi was arrested by New Jersey state police in 2014 after the scandal at the Borgata, investigators have found out that he is involved in sale of counterfeit DVDs. The authorities have been tracking Lusardi and building the case against him since 2012.
Lusardi has sneaked fake chips into poker tournament at Borgata Winter Open last year. After fake chips were noticed and tournament organizers decided to cancel the event, he tried to hide the evidence. He flushed $2.7m of counterfeit poker chips down the toilet in his room at Harrah’s Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, thinking that no one will ever find out that he was the the actual culprit. However, due to problems with the plumbing system, the chips were found and recovered.
It was revealed that Christian was staying in the room where the pipes were blocked and his fraud was quickly described as hilarious. It is believed that Christian added chips to his stack on multiple occasions during the tournament. According to the documents he came up with the idea of fake chips months before the tournament in question.
A chip scandal has led to new security measures at the Borgata including introduction of an authentication element that can be seen under ultraviolet light. Joe Lupo, the casino’s senior vice president, said that they would be checking the chips randomly using new process with UV lights. He also explained that new chips were very expensive but they had to do everything in their power to ensure integrity of the game.
The 43 year-old has been sentenced to five years in prison under the terms of plea deal with the authorities. Christian Lusardi has pleaded guilty on copyright infringement and trafficking in counterfeit labels. During the investigation, the authorities found more than 35,000 counterfeit DVDs in his possession, mostly imported from China. It was estimated that he managed to earn nearly $1.3m by selling DVDs online so the judge ordered him to pay a $1.1m fine as well.
Photo: kdvr.com
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