SAN DIEGO
Two brothers who took in millions of dollars in illegal sports wagers over the last decade in the San Diego and Los Angeles area were sentenced Friday to prison, officials said.
U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino sentenced Jan Harald Portocarrero, 42, to 18 months in custody and a $50,000 fine; Erik Portocarrero, 44, received a 22-month sentence and a $50,000 fine.
One brother had to be extradited from Norway, officials said.
The two were charged with racketeering conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs, RICO Conspiracy.
Judge Sammartino ordered the Portocarreros to forfeit $1.7 million that they obtained from their illegal gambling business, “Macho Sports.”
In addition, the judge ordered the brothers and 16 other defendants to forfeit unlawful gambling proceeds valued at over $10 million.
According to court documents,this is what happened:
The FBI investigation of Macho Sports began in 2011, and employed wiretaps and undercover agents to infiltrate the organization and uncover the defendants’ illegal gambling and extortionate debt collection activities.
Nearly two years ago, in coordinated law enforcement actions in Norway, Los Angeles, and San Diego, FBI agents and Norwegian police arrested 18 members of Macho Sports.
Law enforcement seized nearly $12 million in illegal assets.
Jan Portocarrero and Erik Portocarrero were both arrested in June 2013, although they were half a world apart – Jan Portocarrero surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles, California, and Erik Portocarrero was arrested in Oslo, Norway.
For the next 22 months Erik Portocarrero fought his extradition from Norway, but that legal battle ended when the Kingdom of Norway extradited him to the United States.
Also the indictment states:
- Jan Portocarrero and Erik Portocarrero started their illegal gambling business shortly after the 1995 Super Bowl.
- Although originally from California, the Portocarrero brothers set up Macho Sports in Peru after being investigated for gambling crimes in the Los Angeles area.
- Using the Internet and toll-free telephone lines, Macho Sports accepted high-stakes sports bets from customers throughout California.
- The organization ensured the prompt payment of gambling debts through, among other means, intimidation and a reputation of violence toward delinquent customers.
- The co-conspirators avoided detection by laundering their illegal proceeds and maintaining a company headquarters and physical platform outside the United States.
- The Portocarreros employed managers in Peru to oversee the enterprise’s telephone and internet operations, resolve disputes and adjust customers’ lines of credit.
- The organization also used teams of bookies—such as Amir Mokayef of La Jolla, California (who operated primarily in the San Diego area) and Joseph Barrios (who operated primarily in the Los Angeles area)—to recruit customers, pay off winning bets, and collect losing bets.
- Mokayef and Barrios, in turn, managed their own network of “sub-bookies” to recruit customers and collect payments.
- The enterprise also used “runners,” who dealt directly with customers and maintained thousands (and sometimes millions) of dollars in cash to handle customer payments and collections.
- Millions of dollars from these “banks” – which the conspirators kept in their homes and safe deposit boxes – were seized by authorities as part of the investigation.
- Mokayef and Barrios have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. The other individual defendants have also pleaded guilty, have been sentenced, or are awaiting sentencing.
“After running an international racketeering organization for two decades, Jan and Erik Portocarrero finally faced American justice today,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “Despite attempting to evade U.S. law enforcement by moving their sophisticated operations to Peru and Norway, they must now face substantial custodial sentences and millions in forfeitures. No longer can their global Macho Sports enterprise engage in violence, threats, and intimidation to amass illegal profits.”
Duffy added: “We wish to thank our law enforcement partners in Norway for their invaluable assistance throughout this case.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric S. Birnbaum commented, “Today’s sentencings mark the end of a sophisticated international gambling criminal enterprise that preyed upon the gambling addiction of its customers. It also reaffirms the FBI’s commitment to working with our domestic and international law enforcement partners, integrating intelligence into our criminal investigations and dismantling sophisticated criminal enterprises such as Macho Sports.”
The Portocarreros were ordered to report to prison on August 31..