“Poker Pro” Talon White Jailed for One Year and One Day for $8million Pirate Streaming Scheme

Talon White has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for conducting an $8million pirate movie streaming scheme, the poker pro also told he must repay $4.3million of his ill-gotten gains.

As we reported previously, White had $4million in cash and cryptocurrency seized when federal officers swooped, arresting White for taking ‘payments from subscribers to download movies and shows in violation of copyright laws’.

White, who has just $100,000 in tournament cashes on his Hendon Mob listing, was described in an interview by his lawyer, Rain Minns, as “a professional poker player”.

Copyright breaches and tax evasion

His scheme involved setting up multiple websites – including noobroom.com, nobroom7.com, Superchillin.com, Movietv.to and Sit2play.com – from which paid subscribers could stream and download copyright-protected TV shows and movies.

The 31-year-old Oregon-based poker pro began the scheme back in 2013 and ignored repeated requests from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to cease and desist his illegal activities.

In 2018 federal investigators pounced and White was discovered to have four accounts with Chase Bank in his own name and that of Viral Sensations Inc. containing $5,900,000, $5,900,000, $90,000 and $419,367.

According to the US Department of Justice Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, “while operating the scheme, White also underreported his income by more than $4.4 million, willfully evading the payment of more than $1.9 million in taxes owed from 2013 through 2017.”

Cryptomillions

A separate Stripes account held $8,029,933 while numerous cryptocurrency accounts were also seized last November, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum amounting to almost $1million.

Although he pleaded guilty to charges of copyright infringement and tax evasion back in 2019, White has only now been sentenced due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

He will spend one year and one day in federal prison after which he will be on supervised release for 3 years.

As part of White’s plea agreement, he has agreed “to pay $669,557 in restitution to the Motion Picture Association of America and $3,392,708 in restitution, including penalties and interest, to the IRS,” according to the DoJ.

Their press release reports: “...White has also agreed to forfeit more than $3.9 million seized from his bank accounts, approximately $35,000 in cash, cryptocurrency holdings worth an estimated $424,000, and a 2,248 square foot home in Newport, Oregon worth an estimated $415,000.”

Rich criminal, poor pro

White’s poker results stretch back to his first, and to date biggest, cash of $31,153 at the Spring Poker Round-up in 2012 at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, Oregon.

In total he has $100,953 in recorded cashes, including two at the 2018 WSOP and his most recent result being a 7th place finish at the 2019 PacWest Poker Classic in Lincoln City, Nebraska, worth $5,000.