The Bitcoin has attracted many creative geniuses, whom have created various businesses based upon the Bitcoin as a payment method or by using its technology. One of those people is Bryan Micon, who was the face of the now shut down SealsWithClubs and the owner of SWCPoker.
Micon helped the Bitcoin poker industry get to the next level, after being stuck with a couple of small-time operators who had no clue on how to get liquidity into a room. Micon started different marketing campaigns and slowly build up the reputation that made SealsWithClubs the Pokerstars of Bitcoin poker.
But just like most things, SealsWithClubs came to an end. The management didn’t feel that they could continue to operate the room after yet another attack on their servers and decided to shut down the site in February of this year.
Micon decided that he would not let the attackers decide if he should run a poker room or not and opened up his own room SWCPoker, which was a descendant of Seals, just without the original management team.
Micon believed that he could transfer over most of the player base from Seals and continue to operate a successful room with the new software he had purchased, along with other improvements.
Micon didn’t make it that far in his plans however, as his home in Las Vegas was raided and once he flead to Antigua, a warrant for his arrest was released.
It was believed that Micon would not return to the US again to face his charges, as Antigua is a safe place to hide for those wanted by the US police and agencies. However Micon did return to face his charges, after his lawyer got him a plea-deal.
Micon pleaded guilty to having run an unlicensed interactive gaming system in the state of Nevada. By pleading guilty, Micon will, according to his lawyer, avoid any jail-time for the crime he did. Micon will instead be on probation for an unknown amount of time and if he completes that he will be able to plead to one gross misdemeanor count of conspiracy to operate unlicensed interactive gaming systems.
Furthermore Micon will also have to pay a $25,000 fine for having run the illegal gaming site, as well as forfeit properties seized in the raid, which includes $900 in cash, around three Bitcoins and a ton of electronic equipment.
The deal is still quite good for Micon however, as he initially faced upwards of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine for having run SealsWithClubs. Micon himself has not made any official comments on the case yet, but we feel confident that he is happy with the sentence despite of his beliefs that the US is killing the creativity in the country.
The official sentence in the case will be made in November of this year and will determine what Micon’s official punishment will be, should he complete his probation.
