In breaking news out of New York, the Associated Pressis reporting that Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley has pled guilty to conspiracy charges, “admitting that he knew he was breaking the law when he arranged for U.S. banks to process gambling proceeds.” Judge Ronald Ellis presided over the hearing, which was held on Tuesday, and Beckley succinctly admitted, “I knew that it was illegal to deceive the banks.” Sentencing is not scheduled until April.

The Associated Press noted that Beckley “was described in court as the director of payments for Absolute Poker” and confessed that he knew “it was illegal to accept credit cards so that customers could gamble on the internet.” The 31-year-old was one of 11 individuals indicted as part of Black Friday back in April, when the U.S. Department of Justice clamped down on the three largest U.S.-facing online poker sites, including Absolute Poker, the now-dormant Full Tilt Poker, and PokerStars.

The Washington Post elaborated on Beckley’s plea: “Beckley said his crime began in the fall of 2006 and continued until last spring. In May, prosecutors announced that a deal had been reached with Absolute Poker to enable players in the United States to recover their money after the games were interrupted by the criminal prosecution.” However, no such repayment has taken place and Absolute Poker has been largely silent.

This is the latest plea stemming from Black Friday. In May, Bradley Franzen, one of the alleged payment processors, entered the first guilty plea. According to a Bloomberg article published at the time, Franzen “told U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathaniel Fox that he owns a company that helps merchants process customer payments. After an internet poker operator contacted him in 2009 to help handle checks from U.S. customers, he lied to banks and created fake companies and websites to hide the payments.”

How long Beckley will spend behind bars remains to be seen. PokerNews published the following regarding his jail time: “By pleading guilty, Beckley accepted a plea deal that would see him go to prison for a year to a year-and-a-half, well below the maximum prison sentence of 30 years.” The Wall Street Journal also stated that Beckley would likely face a year-and-a-half behind bars “under a stipulated sentencing-guidelines range.”

Beckley was charged back in April with conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, violation of the UIGEA, operating an illegal gambling business, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. Also indicted at Absolute Poker on Black Friday was co-founder Scott Tom, who does not appear to have been taken into custody.

Federal prosecutors allege that Beckley, Tom, and other site representatives charged on Black Friday “arranged for the money received from U.S. gamblers to be disguised as payments to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls.” All three sites ditched the U.S. market shortly thereafter and PokerStars remains the largest online poker room in the world.

Absolute Poker and its sister CEREUS Network site, UB, have not paid U.S. players back following Black Friday. To that end, a representative from the CEREUS Network told PocketFives on Monday, “We’re still in status quo mode, waiting on the DOJ.” When asked what the site was waiting for the DOJ to do, the same representative did not respond.

In October, PocketFives published an article about CEREUS’ parent company, Blanca Games, proposing to liquidate its assets in order to repay players. A press release from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which licenses Absolute Poker and UB, outlined at the time, “Over the past several weeks, we were advised of a potential solution prepared by Blanca and its representatives establishing a process to liquidate Blanca’s assets and distribute proceeds to players. We understand that this process has been presented to [the DOJ} for consideration and approval.” There has been no update in the last two months.

According to PokerScout, the CEREUS Network has shed 99% of its cash game traffic compared to a year ago. Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest Black Friday fallout.