More Charges For Alleged Borgata Poker Tournament Cheat

Things just got a bit worse for Christian Lusardi, the man accused of using counterfeit poker chips in the now-canceled Borgata poker tournament. The scandal quickly became known in the poker community as “Chip Gate.”

Thanks to the chip investigation, federal authorities allegedly discovered that Lusardi had been pirating thousands of DVDs at his residence. He was subsequently charged with copyright infringement, in addition to the gambling cheating in New Jersey, according to reporting from WRAL.com.

According to a court document, Lusardi had actually caught the attention of authorities in mid-2012 because of the shipments of counterfeit DVDs coming to his area from China.

Altogether, the search of Lusardi’s home turned up more than 37,500 pirated DVDs, in addition to the equipment to make them. The government alleges that he made nearly $1 million from his bootleg DVD business over a considerable length of time.

In addition to the discs, Lusardi allegedly received a recent shipment from China labeled “plastic chips.”

In 2008, Lusardi fell into hot water for running an illegal gambling house in North Carolina.

The poker chip case began when casino officials at Harrah’s Resort and Casino in Atlantic City discovered that someone had flushed 2.7 million worth of counterfeit Borgata poker chips down the toilet in a hotel room. The Borgata was then notified and the tournament was suspended. Tournament staff discovered an additional 800,000 chips in play. The man staying in the room with the clogged toilet pipe was allegedly Lusardi. He was arrested by police at a motel in Atlantic City and later had his bail set at $300,000.

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