Leforbes sentencing in Resorts World laundering case delayed to December
A California federal judge has pushed back sentencing for poker player Damien Leforbes, seeking more detail on a proposed probation deal tied to the Resorts World Las Vegas money-laundering case.
Professional poker player Damien Leforbes will have to wait until 10 December to learn whether he avoids prison over an illegal sports betting operation run through Resorts World Las Vegas, after a federal judge postponed his sentencing by nearly two months.
US District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani made the move at a brief hearing on 15 October, moving the date from last week's original slot at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Los Angeles, according to iGaming Business.
Leforbes, a former baseball player at UNLV, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business. Prosecutors at the US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California had recommended probation rather than prison time, with the first four months to be served in home confinement.
Almadani declined to rule on that recommendation as presented. Instead she ordered the parties to supply additional terms before she will consider a probationary sentence, and directed an assigned US Pretrial and Probation Officer to submit a report on conditions that would apply. Both filings are due before the end of November.
She also ordered the parties to brief the court on Leforbes's potential aggravated role adjustment, a factor that can increase a sentencing guideline range. A spokesman for the US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California confirmed the new 10 December date to iGB but did not explain the reasons for the delay.
A 2025 complaint filed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board states Leforbes lost more than $10 million at Resorts World Las Vegas over a 16-month period through December 2023, while wagering at least $148 million over an 11-month span that produced roughly $12 million in net losses. The complaint also alleges his casino host knew of his bookmaking activity and steered business his way.
Leforbes was named in the same NGCB complaint as Matt Bowyer, the bookmaker to Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, though the two ran separate operations. Bowyer, whose clientele exceeded 700 bettors and required him to move millions of dollars weekly, was sentenced to roughly 12 months by US District Judge John Holcomb in August 2025 and reported to FCI Lompoc a year ago this autumn before being transferred to a halfway house in March for good behaviour.
A joint filing between Leforbes's side and Assistant US Attorney Kerry Quinn acknowledged that Bowyer's enterprise "operated at a significantly larger scale" and "handled greater sums of money" than Leforbes's. Attorneys for Leforbes cited the Bowyer case more than a dozen times in an April pre-sentencing memo, with his lawyer Richard Schonfeld referencing it again in a filing dated 9 October.
Schonfeld was appointed to the Nevada Gaming Commission by Governor Joe Lombardo in April, replacing outgoing Commissioner Rosa Solis-Rainey.
Resorts World Las Vegas itself settled with the Nevada Gaming Control Board over anti-money-laundering deficiencies linked to both cases, agreeing to pay $10.5 million without admitting wrongdoing, a settlement the Nevada Gaming Commission approved in March 2025. Since then the commission has levied roughly $34 million in penalties against four Strip casinos over AML failures tied to the Bowyer matter, most recently a $7.2 million fine against The Venetian in August.
Separately, Almadani approved an order on 1 October permitting Leforbes to pay more than $25,000 to the US Treasury to cover his 2025 federal income tax liability.