When Christian Lusardi went in to play in a poker tournament at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, he planned his outing well; so well that he carried millions of dollars in counterfeit chips.
However, his scheme did not last long, and to save detection, Lusardi flushed the fake chips down a toilet in Harrah's Resort, where he had been staying. Lusardi's woes did not end there. A guest staying in a room below his complained of water dripping in their rooms, as the chips Lusardi had flushed had blocked the drains, reported the Examiner.
Lusardi has been sentenced to five years in prison for all of his misdemeanors. He has also been ordered to pay $463,540 in restitution to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa for the revenue it lost when it canceled the tournament. In addition, Lusardi has to pay $9,455 to Harrah's Casino Hotel for damaging the plumbing, according to WRAL.
The tournament at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa was initially planned for three weeks, but thanks to Lusardi, it had to be terminated after three days. Investigators say that Lusardi had not wasted time and had put in $800,000 in fake chips during the first two days of the tournament. Once the matter was referred to the authorities, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement ordered the money be distributed and entry fees refunded. Lusardi ended up winning $6,814 in the tournament, reported ABC News.
It came to light during the investigations that Lusardi had procured the chips from a Chinese dealer online and had fixed a counterfeit Borgata logo on them. The Borgata has since started using better quality chips with an inbuilt, ultraviolet authentication element.
