A California man has pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling operation, laundering at least $1.5 million in cash into checks, and concealing over $4.1 million in income from the IRS.
This guilty plea follows court filings and statements made in court that outline a Costa Rica based scheme run by Jason Noah Feinman of Calabasas. Prosecutors say his operation maintained websites that allowed unlicensed and illegal gambling businesses to accept bets, including from customers who lived in California, which is illegal under state and federal law. The papers describe both the gambling platform and a steady flow of cash tied to those activities.
Agents say Feinman converted large sums of cash into checks payable to him or his businesses to disguise the source of the funds. For example, between May 2018 and Jan. 2024, he reportedly gave one customer more than $1.5 million in cash and received in exchange 18 checks made payable to him or his businesses totaling that amount. Overall, the filings say he converted between $1.5 million and $3.5 million in cash into checks.
Separately, the government says Feinman deliberately hid earnings from the IRS. Between 2018 and 2022 officials allege he understood he needed to report income from the illegal gambling business but failed to do so, concealing up to $4,198,136 of income from the government. The filings point out that despite earning $1.8 million in 2020 he reported no taxable income that year and paid no tax on those receipts.
That concealment produced a calculated tax loss to the United States of no more than $1,524,528, according to the prosecutors. Those figures formed the basis for tax evasion charges alongside the money laundering and illegal gambling counts. The paper trail and financial records prosecutors relied on are described in the court docket and in sworn statements made at the plea hearing.
Feinman faces a combined statutory maximum that includes up to 10 years in prison on the money laundering charge and up to five years for the tax evasion and illegal gambling charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12. A federal district court judge will set any sentence after weighing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors and considerations presented at sentencing.
The Department of Justice announced the plea through Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division. Investigators from IRS Criminal Investigation’s International Tax and Financial Crimes group and Homeland Security Investigations worked the case, according to the announcement. The case was prepared for trial and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys John C. Gerardi and Charles A. O’Reilly of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section.
The factual account in court papers focuses on how internet platforms and payment exchanges were used to move money and to try to obscure income streams. That pattern is common in cases where online gambling and offshore entities are involved, and it is why federal tax and financial crime teams coordinate investigations. Prosecutors emphasized the cross border elements and the efforts to hide receipts from U.S. authorities when they presented the charges.
The plea removes the need for a lengthy trial but leaves the sentencing question in the hands of a judge who will consider guidelines, losses and the defendant’s conduct. Financial penalties, forfeiture and restitution can also be part of the final judgment, depending on the court’s findings at the sentencing hearing. Until then the filings and the plea allocution form the public record of what the government says occurred.
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