CHICAGO — A north suburban man was sentenced today to a year in federal prison for operating an illegal sports bookmaking business and filing false income tax returns.
DOMENIC POETA, 63, of Highland Park, unlawfully operated a business that provided sports betting and wagering services, both domestically and abroad. From 2012 to 2017, Poeta obtained more than $3.7 million from the operation of his bookmaking business. Poeta failed to report his receipt of this income in the federal and state tax returns that he filed for each of those years, resulting in a federal and state tax loss of approximately $1,486,363.
Poeta pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of transmission of wagering information and one count of filing a false tax return. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly imposed the sentence in federal court in Chicago.
The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Tamera Cantu, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; and John Crawford, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Regional Office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick King.