By David Payne Purdum / @DavidPurdum
Justice is being handed out to the two men indicted for running the online casino and sportsbook BetED.com.
The same can’t be said for BetED clients, who saw their accounts closed and funds vanish last May, when the Maryland Dept. of Justice seized the domain name, indicted operators Darren Wright and David Parchomchuk and effectively shut down the business.
Parchomchuk plead guilty to conducting an illegal gambling business and was sentenced to two years of probation June 8.
He faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison without parole, followed by a term of supervised release not to exceed three years and a $250,000 fine. But pleading guilty to Count 1 and exposing details of the operation, including highlighting Wright’s role at BetED, earned Parchomchuk a reduced sentence.
Wright will make his initial arraignment appearance July 16.
As part of the plea agreement, Parchomchuk agreed to forfeit the contents of three bank accounts located in Panama.
In the DOJ’s eyes, they did not seize customer funds, rather the company’s funds, a spokesperson told David Purdum Sports on Wednesday.
In an email, Parchomchuk’s lawyer, Jeff Ifrah, said his client was a computer programmer who earned $100,000 year from ThrillX, the company that operated as BetEd. Ifrah added, “Parchomchuk was never in charge of customer funds and never had access to client funds. The government has never stated otherwise. He is very concerned about customers who cannot access their funds.”
