U.S. payment processor fails in bid to sue online gambling adviser

Former US payment processor Chad Elie, who was caught up and convicted in Department of Justice actions aimed at shutting down online gambling in the United States, took a further defeat this week when his action against lawyer Jeff Ifrah alleging bad legal advice was dismissed by U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan.

Commenting on the finding, Jeff Ifrah said: “We can’t speculate why Chad Elie chose to strike out and blame us for his own actions. We can only speak to the facts. And those facts are clear, unambiguous, and directly contradict Elie’s claims against us.

“We pride ourselves on our strong, long-term relationships with clients, so when a former client sued us we were extremely shocked and disheartened,” Ifrah said. “However, what was truly confounding and upsetting was how far out of left field and utterly false these claims were.”

Elie, who was convicted of conspiring to commit bank fraud and operating an illegal gambling business in 2011, launched his action against Ifrah in April 2013 whilst still in jail, claiming Ifrah misled him about the legalities of processing poker payments.

In his order to dismiss, Judge Mahan said Elie’s claims directly contradicted his sworn statements under oath. Under oath, Elie admitted that he knew his conduct was illegal while he committed the crime, and denied that his criminal conduct was based on the advice of counsel.

It may not be over for Elie…Ifrah says that he is considering a defamation suite.