Famed sports bettor Billy Walters has been fined $10m and sentenced to five years in federal prison for insider trading.
In April, Walters was convicted on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy for his role in an insider trading scheme that netted him $32m in profits while avoiding $11m in losses. On Thursday, US District Judge P. Kevin Castel called Walters “a cheater and a criminal, and not a very clever one.”
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York charged Walters in 2016 over a series of trades involving Fortune 500 company Dean Foods based on inside information fed to Walters by Dean’s former chairman Thomas Davis, who was heavily in debt at the time. Davis, who has yet to be sentenced, testified against Walters after striking a plea deal with prosecutors.
On Thursday, Castel called Walters’ scheme “amateurishly simple,” in part due to a detailed paper trail that led prosecutors right to Walters’ and Davis’ doors. Castel also claimed that Walters’ scheme was less to do with an actual need for cash, but rather because Walters viewed acquiring riches as “a way of keeping score.”