Former ThrillX programmer David Parchomchuk, indicted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland as a part of the “Blue Monday” seizures, agreed to a plea deal last week.
In exchange for a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling business and additional concessions contained in a sealed plea supplement, Parchomchuk received a two-year probationary sentence.
A programmer for ThrillX Systems, Parchomchuk worked to develop the technology required to transfer information between Linwood—a payment processor setup by US authorities in the Blue Monday sting operation—and BetEd.com.
“While the indictment of a software professional is an unprecedented step by the DOJ, we are nonetheless happy to see this case come to a final resolution,” stated Parchomchuk’s counsel Jeff Ifrah.
In May 2011, just over a month after Black Friday, US officials once again seized bank accounts, domain names and handed down indictments related to online gambling in what is commonly referred to as Blue Monday.
Unlike Black Friday, the Blue Monday seizures focused mainly on sportsbook operations, and the indictments specified that “online sports-betting” companies were specifically targetted. However, four of the seven skins on the small Yatahay Network (now Winning Poker Network) had their domain name seized (including Doyle’s Room) and, perhaps most tellingly, the operation was referred to internally as “Operation Texas Hold 'em.”
Darren Wright and David Parchomchuk of ThrillX Systems and Ann Marie Puig of K23 Group Financial Services were indicted. In total, 10 domain names and 11 bank accounts were seized.
In the undercover sting operation spanning two years, federal agents opened a payment processor business named Linwood Payment Solutions, processing transactions from December 2009 to January 2011. During that time, Linwood processed over 300,000 transactions worth more than $33m.
