CHICAGO — The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago today charged a north suburban man with illegal sports bookmaking and filing a false federal income tax return.
From 2014 to 2018, DOMINIC POETA, 63, of Highland Park, unlawfully operated a business that provided sports betting and wagering services, both domestically and abroad, according to a criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The information also charges Poeta with filing a false federal income tax return for the calendar year 2016 that falsely reported his total income was $81,609, knowing his actual income substantially exceeded that amount.
Poeta will be arraigned in federal court in Chicago on a future date to be set by the Court.
The information was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Kathy A. Enstrom, 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.
The public is reminded that an information is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The tax charge is punishable by up to three years in federal prison, while the bookmaking charge is punishable by up to two years. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
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| Component | USAO - Illinois, Northern; |
| OIG | Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation OIG |