Former LI Resident Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Sports Bettors: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A former Nassau County resident pleaded guilty on Wednesday in connection to defrauding prospective sports bettors in New York and Florida during a years-long scheme, federal prosecutors said.

Cory Zeidman, 63, who previously lived in Syosset, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, said.

When sentenced, Zeidman faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, as well as forfeiture and restitution of approximately $3.6 million.

"Zeidman and his partners baited unsuspecting victims with false claims of an edge in sports betting only to feed them lies and pocket millions of dollars," Peace said.

As alleged in court documents, Zeidman helped run an organization that placed national radio advertisements to lure prospective bettors to retain the organization for sports betting advice, prosecutors said.

Using fake names and high-pressure sales tactics, Zeidman and his partners falsely led the bettors to believe that their organization had access to non-public information. Bettors were often told, for example, that Zeidman’s organization had access to non-public player injury information, "dirty" referees, or that professional sporting events were "fixed" and that media executives' shares predetermined outcomes with Zeidman’s organization, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

This information, the bettors were told, made gambling on sporting events a low or no-risk proposition. Victims were required to pay exorbitant fees to obtain this supposedly privileged information which, unbeknownst to them, was fictitious or based on the conspirators’ open-source internet research, prosecutors said.

Over several years, Zeidman and his partners reaped millions in fees from victims.

Anyone who believes they may have been the victim of the crimes can contact Homeland Security Investigations at 1-866-347-2423.