Affiliate Manager and Poker Site Owner Found Guilty
Robert Eon Marshall sentenced to 10 years and ordered to pay $1m
Thursday 3rd May 2007
Robert Eon Marshall has been ordered to pay $1m and sentenced to time in a Federal prison, bringing justice for the 41 people he scammed as a crooked affiliate between 2003 and 2004. Many of his victims were elderly and much of the money came from their retirement funds.
Marshall’s company, ECM group, based in Fort Worth, Texas, created and maintained World Poker Party and Double Your Money Casino.com.
As founder and president of ECM, Marshall managed to dupe investors into paying $10,000 for shares in his company, promising excellent returns. In fact his affiliate company which used links to channel a percentage of online casino customers’ losses back to him in exchange for referrals, only ever generated one tenth of that. To get more investment, Marshall also told people that he was planning to start an online casino.
In another bid to keep investors interested and continuing to pay, Marshall mailed them false accounts, showing vastly inflated earnings. It was this fabrication that caught him. While the ‘failure’ of an affiliates venture (however bogus) is not criminal, mail fraud and false reporting is, and the judge handed down a ten year sentence, despite the fact that Marshall had pleaded guilty.
Robert Eon Marshall has been ordered to pay $1m and sentenced to time in a Federal prison, bringing justice for the 41 people he scammed as a crooked affiliate between 2003 and 2004. Many of his victims were elderly and much of the money came from their retirement funds.