By Shari Geller
According to news reports, two brothers and their cousin coming back to the U.S. from the Bahamas had their poker winnings seized by Bahamian authorities for failure to declare the money. All three pleaded guilty to charges and had to forfeit the money, but were not sentenced to any jail time and were allowed to return to the U.S.
Michael and Sean Ruane and their cousin Thomas Freeman, Jr., were attempting to return home from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when they went through pre-clearance at the at Lynden Pindling International Airport. Asked as part of the normal screening process to declare if they were carrying cash in excess of $10,000, the brothers signed a statement denying they had that much money on them.
In fact, the three were carrying over $26,000 between them. The brothers had $9,400 each in cash and their cousin held the balance. They later explained that they had split up the money in this fashion to get through the pre-clearance section easily as they were late for their flight. They claimed they believed the $10,000 limit required that no individual carry that much on him. However, according to Deputy Chief Magistrate Carolita Bethell, the U.S. law regarding the $10,000 declaration is per family, not per person.
Sean Ruane later admitted to authorities that the money had been made during the PCA after they had “invested in some of their friends,” one of whom won the tournament, giving them both a percentage of the winnings.
Authorities apparently became suspicious of a "nervous" and "sweating" Sean Ruane and performed a secondary search of the brothers, which disclosed the cash and lead to their being detained and charged. In their hearing in front of the Magistrate, they accepted the facts as presented and pleaded guilty.
The lesson is clear for anyone traveling abroad who plans to return with a large sum of money. As Magistrate Bethell told the three, “All you had to do was fill out a form, instead you intended to deceive the officers at the pre-clearance." She added, "And now you've lost all this sum of money.”
While all of their winnings were confiscated, the Magistrate did not punish them further, with either time or a fine, "because you have no convictions in this jurisdiction and because you did not waste the court's time and pleaded guilty." Under those circumstances, "the confiscation of funds is punishment enough."
»
