Ira Rubin Sentenced to Three Years In Prison for Black Friday Role

Ira Rubin is now the third Black Friday defendant to be sentenced.  Earlier today, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced the former payment processor to three years in prison for his role in deceiving banks to process online poker payments.  Rubin pleased guilty in January on three charges of conspiracy.

Kaplan’s sentence of three years was actually a bit harsher than the normal guidelines of 18 months to two years.  Kaplan said during sentencing that Rubin was an unreformed con based on his past history of charges dating back to the 70’s.  Kaplan felt that society needed to be protected from Rubin as he was a threat to commit crimes in the future.

Rubin had a different take and said “I know this is my last chance to have a productive life. I’m 54-years-old and I’m tired of running. I just want to go home to my family.”  In addition to his sentence, he is looking at a judgment from the Federal Trade Commission of around $8 Million as well as another $5 Million stemming from a forfeiture order.

Rubin’s prison term stems from his role in the Black Friday indictments where he tricked banks into processing online poker transactions by encoding them to look like legitimate transactions rather than online poker transactions.

Rubin is the third Black Friday defendant to be charged.  Brent Beckley was sentenced to 14 months in prison last week by Judge Kaplan and former SunFirst Bank executive John Campos was sentenced to three months in jail in June.  Rubin has already served 15 months in jail after being captured in April of 2011.  Should he serve the other 21 months of his term, he will be released in April of 2014.