Prison For Conman Who Played Online Poker While On The Run

The Las Vegas conman who scammed tourists out of $400,000 and played online poker while hiding from his sentencing date was ordered to serve 20 years behind bars.

 56-year old Mark Georgantas was described as a “career confidence man” by prosecutors after he pled guilty to swindling more than $350,000 from two victims, having convinced them he had a system for beating Las Vegas casino pit games.

Despite facing 30 years in prison, the conman managed to agree a deal that would see him only serve between 2 and 5 years jailtime,  but Georgantas fled to Utah before his sentencing date last year.

When found, he had apparently been staying with an unsuspecting family, who explained that “he mostly played online poker and slept in a camper” according to Las Vegas review Journal reports.

The prosecutor, Michael Viets, ‘dropped a 6-inch-thick stack of papers’ on the court desk, detailing 21 previous convictions that included ‘a jailbreak, skipping out on his own trial, battery on a peace officer and felon in possession of a firearm’.

They also included ‘white-collar financial frauds amounting to more than $1 million’.

Throwing out yet another attempt to delay proceedings by changing his lawyer for the 8th time, District Judge Stefany Miley sentenced Georgantas to ‘eight to 20 years’ behind bars, stating:

“You are not ignorant to the legal procedures…you have a very extensive criminal record.”