Three men arrested over Breeders Cup betting scam
Glen DaSilva of New York, Chris Harn of Newark, Delaware and Derrick Davis of Baltimore, Maryland, all aged 29, surrendered to the FBI and will be charged with wire fraud conspiracy.
The three attended Drexel University in Philadelphia and have been the target of an investigation that they manipulated a computer system to ensure winning Pick Six tickets in the Breeders Cup on October 26 at Illinois’ Arlington Park. The story was highlighted in yesterday’s Irish Examiner magazine, Arena.
The FBI and federal prosecutors confirmed last week that they had joined in the investigation of the suspicious bets.
“We commend the authorities on the arrests today in the Pick Six case and support prosecution to the fullest extent of the law,” said Tim Smith, president of the National Throughbred Racing Association.
Ed Hayes, attorney for DaSilva, told the New York Daily News that the government has no proof that they did anything wrong. “They made bets, they won, they got paid. These are very risky bets. They have very high payouts,” Hayes told the newspaper.
Davis and DaSilva had phone accounts at Catskill OTB in upstate New York and placed bets on races at Belmont Park in New York on October 5 and at Balmoral in Illinois on October 3.
Harn was a senior programmer for Autotote a Delaware company that handles bets at tracks and off-track betting shops and allegedly hacked into the computer systems to change DaSilva’s bets, netting him more than $100,000.
The three men then are accused of moving on to the prestigious Breeders’ Cup race, where Davis, a computer services manager, had the only Ultra Pick Six ticket for the Breeders’ Cup.
The $12 ticket was the equivalent of six $2 tickets each worth $428,392 and also produced 108 consolation tickets worth $4,606.20 for five of six winners.
The Breeders’ Cup payout has been delayed, but the Belmont and Balmoral winnings have been settled.
