Billy Walters just lost his largest wager ever -- and this time, it’s likely to cost him much more than cash.
Widely considered the nation’s most successful sports gambler, Walters was convicted Friday in the highest-profile -- and most colorful -- insider-trading trial in years. Testimony featured golfer Phil Mickelson and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, as well as a seamy world of gambling debts, stock tips delivered on burner phones and charity money used for prostitutes.
"If I would have made a bet I would have lost," Walters told reporters as he left court. "I just did lose the biggest bet of my life. Frankly I’m in shock."
"To say I was surprised would be the biggest understatement of my life," he added.
The verdict was delivered as Mickelson started second-round play at The Masters in Augusta, Georgia.
Walters built a fortune with wagers on football and basketball and bragged that he never had a losing year. But he faced the longest of odds in taking on the Justice Department, which wins almost 95 percent of its cases.
Now -- after a four-week trial -- the 70-year-old Las Vegas gambler faces a lengthy prison term. The maximum sentence on the most serious charge is 20 years. The jury found him guilty of all 10 counts of fraud and conspiracy after about five hours of deliberations.
“Billy Walters lost his bet that he could cheat the securities market on a massive scale,” acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney, Joon H. Kim, said in a statement. “Walters underestimated law enforcement’s resolve to pursue and catch those who cheat the market.”
Unless he’s successful on appeal, Walters will be forced to walk away from Las Vegas businesses that include golf courses, auto dealerships and car-rental agencies, with total revenue of $500 million in 2013, according to testimony from his company’s controller. Walters, who didn’t testify at the trial in Manhattan federal court, has said he owns seven homes and a $20 million jet.
For prosecutors, the verdict is a dramatic comeback after recent defeats in a lengthy insider-trading crackdown.