The trial of five accused men, including the ex-football player from Leipzig, has been going on since last week at the regional court in Dresden. The group allegedly organized rigged private poker games in various cities in Germany between 2014-2017. The defendants focused on well-to-do and prominent players and through fraud managed to obtain an incredible sum exceeding half a million euros. Now, the Dresden prosecutor's office tapped their fingers.
the trial of the defendants
One of the accused is the German footballer Ronny Garbuschewski, also nicknamed "Beckham from Sachsen", who was once considered the greatest talent of Leipzig football. The native of Grimma played more than 100 matches until 2009 for the then strongest Leipzig club FC Sachsen. Later he went to Chemnitz, Zwickau and also to the Bundesliga's Fortuna Düsseldorf. In the end, he did not fulfill his promising potential, perhaps also because he came into conflict with the law as a 20-year-old. He has a suspended sentence for the fraudulent sale of a sports car.
Ronny Garbuschewski
The footballer allegedly invited teammates from his former clubs in Rostock and Zwickau to manipulated poker nights. At that time, he got involved in a fraud gang because of betting debts that he could no longer repay. Another reason he gave was that he had a lot of free time as a professional footballer.
According to the indictment, Garbuschewski and four other men, ages 37 to 46, "worked" using marked cards, a hidden infrared camera and Bluetooth headphones. On the backs of the cards were small scan codes that, after shuffling, the camera could scan and then calculate the odds of winning. Through the headphones, the information moved to the dealer, who then moved the information to the insider players using agreed upon signals. The winnings were then pocketed by the so-called "collectors" and later shared percentageally with the others. The accused men were supposed to organize up to 29 such evenings, and for each "earn" a four- to five-figure sum. Events were held in Dresden, Hamburg, Rostock, Zwickau and Leipzig.
the accused pleaded guilty in court
Poker professional and WSOP bracelet holder Jan-Peter Jachtmann also became a victim of the gang. The accused croupier said that Jachtmann served the group as a test of the security of the fraudulent system. "If he didn't notice it, it's relatively safe," he explained to the judge. And Jachtmann didn't notice. On the aforementioned evening, he lost a total of 20,000 euros in Hamburg. According to media reports, Bundesliga star Max Kruse (SC Paderborn) was among the duped members of the gang. The currently 35-year-old player allegedly lost 5,000 euros in this way in 2014.
fraud victims - Jan-Peter Jachtmann and Max Kruse
The defendants, led by Garbuschewski, Mathias K., 43, Daniel S., 37, Gordon L., 40, and Danny S., 46, pleaded guilty to fraud and the trial is likely to result in a plea agreement.
Source: express.de, lvz, reddit, mdr, tag24
