Onlinepoker.net: Three young men have just had $26,158 in cash seized and confiscated
by US authorities, after failing to declare the amount while at US
pre-clearance at Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau,
Bahamas.
The three men included brothers Sean Ruane, 18, and Michael Ruane,
23, as well as cousin, Thomas Freeman Jr., 18. Apparently, the men were
travelling back from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament
series, with the cash representing a part of their poker winnings made
from backing various friends in the poker events.
As Sean Ruane later explained to the Deputy Chief Magistrate Carolita Bethell:
“We invested money in some of our friends. One of them won and we got a percentage.”
However, by not declaring any amount on their persons in excess of
$10,000, the men had fallen foul of US laws, which would then have
required them to fill out a declaration form. Instead, the men failed to
declare the correct amount of cash to a US Customs Agent, even though
the brothers were carrying $9,400 each, while the cousin held the
remaining $7,58.
After appearing before the Deputy Chief Magistrate, the student’s
defense attorney Keith Seymour, argued that the men had made an
“innocent mistake” as they believed the $10,000 limit applied to
individuals and not “families.”
Nevertheless, no time was lost admitting their guilt for the false
declaration, while pleading for a non-custodial sentence. Consequently,
Deputy Chief Magistrate Bethell confiscated the $26,158 but refrained
from fining or sentencing the men, as they had no previous convictions
and had pleaded guilty in a timely fashion.
“All you had to do was fill out a form, instead you intended to
deceive the officers at the pre-clearance. And now you’ve lost all this
sum of money. The confiscation of funds is punishment enough. The
conviction remains,” added the Deputy Chief Magistrate.
SOURCE
