Louisiana bookie sentenced in illegal sports gambling case

Federal Judge Helen G. Berrigan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana sentenced Frank J. Frabbiele (79) Wednesday to eight months in prison for operating an illegal sports gambling business.

The Abita Springs man, paid an unnamed Costa Rica-based website to facilitate bets for clients from as early as 2008 (see previous report), Louisiana’s State Attorney General said.

He was indicted after a family member discussed the business with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in July 2014 following which he pleaded guilty to money laundering and violations to the Federal Wire Act.

This wasn’t Frabbiele’s first brush with law, the first was back in 1991 where he and his wife were also charged with running an illegal gambling operation which was uncovered during an FBI investigation into a sport gambling enterprise run by Walton Aucoin.

In addition to his 8 month prison sentence, Frabbiele was ordered to forfeit just over $200 000.