Poker Scammer Travell Thomas Sentenced to 8 Years

Travell Thomas, the two-time World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring winner with over $½million in tournament earnings, has been sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for his part in a debt collection scam which ‘tricked and coerced’ more than $31 million from thousands of victims in the US.

The 100-month sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla will see Thomas begin his sentence this September, after the court was told Thomas "was the mastermind behind the largest criminal debt collection scheme ever charged."

In his indictment last year it was claimed that ‘Thomas and the other defendants tried to trick and coerce victims into making payments to the Company by making false threats and telling a host of lies’, the court hearing that Thomas and his staff would scare debt-ridden consumers by pretending to be federal agents and claiming they had committed crimes.

Thomas was a well-known figure in the poker world, regularly playing and cashing in WSOP Circuit events from 2009 onwards, but he claimed in court that his gambling had ruined his life.

"I would spend days at the casinos," he told U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, adding "I wouldn't even change my clothes. I didn't spend much time at the office. I spent most of my time gambling."

Prosecutors, however, claimed that Thomas preyed on financially distressed people, Judge Failla stating that, "A lot of the money that was taken went to him and his enjoyment," his indictment listing ‘gambling expenses, tickets for professional sports games, [his] wedding reception, jewelry, and cosmetic surgery for his wife, among other expenses’.

"This was Mr. Thomas living the high life," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Imperatore, who claimed that Thomas was motivated by greed and had ‘lied to the New York Attorney General's office to thwart their probe, allowing his scheme to last three more years until the Federal Trade Commission shut him down’ according to AP.

37-year-old Thomas broke down in tears as he addressed the court before sentencing, his again tearful November plea deal last year reducing his possible 40 years jail-term to a maximum 15 and a half, and his eventual 8 and a half year sentence rather light by comparison.