American poker player was imprisoned for tax evasion
According to the Poker Hendon Mob, Guy Smith from Connecticut won over $240 000 in live poker. But according to the Justice Department, Smith earned much more, namely $1 000 000.
Last year, he was also accused of hiding his earnings from his own company Centerline Interiors LLC. Plus, the IRS warned Guy to declare income from poker and sports betting.
As it is said in the Justice Department, Smith used to withdraw his company’s funds in cash in order to participate in various poker games and illegal sports betting.
"Mr Smith deliberately evaded taxes and didn’t report his gambling profits to the tax officer. He also didn’t indicate his PayPal account, which he used for getting all his winnings".
Smith faced up to 30 months in prison, but the poker player made a plea deal and took all the blame himself. In return, he was guaranteed the term of imprisonment reduction to 14 months.
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In his defense, Guy declared that he was losing more than winning. In his opinion, the tax office should calculate the difference between winnings and losses before invoicing. However, there is no such tax law in Connecticut. In addition, while making sports betting, Smith violated another local law, which also became one more disadvantage in the judge’s eyes.
As a result, Guy was found guilty of tax evasion from winning $2 000 000 (a million on bets and a million on poker). Now the poker player will spend 14 months in a jail. He was also ordered to pay $821 451 of unpaid tax.