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Dennis Blieden
2021年4月17日Register here: http://gg.gg/p2pdh
Dennis Blieden, a professional poker player and a former executive at digital marketing company StyleHaul, has pled guilty to charges that he embezzled $22 million from his employer.The post. Dennis Blieden has pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. The 30-year-old professional poker player and tech exec had been accused of embezzling over $22m from his former employer, StyleHaul.
Blieden was the vice president of accounting and finance, and controller of StyleHaul, a digital company formerly based in Hollywood but that relocated to London earlier this year. The court heard. On STYLE HAUL, INC filed a Property - Other Property Fraud lawsuit against DENNIS BLIEDEN. This case was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Courts, Stanley Mosk Courthouse located in Los Angeles, California. The Judges overseeing this case are JAMES C. CHALFANT and MALCOLM MACKEY. The case status is Disposed - Judgment Entered.
StyleHaul’s Hollywood office. Photo by Ringo Chiu.
A Brief but Exhilarating Poker Career Back in March of 2018, an unknown in the poker world named Dennis Blieden rose to the top of a tough field of 493 entries to take down the $10,000 buy-in World.
The former controller for erstwhile digital media wonder company StyleHaul Inc. was indicted July 9 on charges of embezzling $22 million from the now defunct Hollywood outfit.
A federal grand jury in Las Vegas returned an indictment of 11 counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and two forfeiture counts against Dennis Blieden, 29, who operated as StyleHaul’s controller and vice president of accounting and finance from December 2015 to March 2019.
Prosecutors say Blieden spent millions of dollars of company money to support his frequent poker games. Blieden was the 2018 Los Angeles Poker Classic champion, but also purportedly siphoned millions from his employer toward tournament entry fees and paying off gambling debts.
According to prosecutors, Blieden also forged the signature of a StyleHaul executive to create a fictitious lease agreement for a condo rental in Rosarito Beach, Mexico.
A Los Angeles federal court judge will arraign Blieden, and future court proceedings will take place in Los Angeles.
Blieden’s time at StyleHaul coincided with the company’s demise and ultimate dissolution.
Stephanie Horbaczewski founded StyleHaul in 2011 as a YouTube multichannel network with content mostly provided by beauty, fashion and lifestyle creators.
A forerunner to the social media influencers of today, StyleHaul was purchased for $107 million in 2014 by Luxemborg-headquartered digital media giant RTL Group, which valued the company at $151 million.
But StyleHaul was one of several multichannel networks that struggled to either get consistent advertising revenue in its partnership with Alphabet Inc. subsidiary YouTube, or find other revenue sources.
“The market was a bit of a bubble, and it was a little strange that the MCN’s (multichannel network) revenues depended on one company,” said Jody Simon, an entertainment lawyer at Fox Rothschild. “They were basically living off YouTube.”
StyleHaul announced in March that it would shut down U.S. operations including the company’s main Hollywood office, which had 55 employees. The company said it would continue operating in London, but StyleHaul ceased operations completely in May.
Whether Blieden’s behavior accelerated StyleHaul’s decline is not clear. A spokesman for RTL Group declined to answer specific questions about how much Blieden hurt StyleHaul’s overall fortunes, but responded with a statement about the indictment:
“Earlier this year, StyleHaul identified certain accounting irregularities as part of an internal review, and its preliminary investigation found that over the past years Mr. Blieden executed a series of unauthorized transactions totaling about $22 million. StyleHaul immediately reported the issue to law enforcement and is cooperating fully with the authorities. Additionally, the company retained outside counsel, which conducted an internal investigation.”
Media and entertainment reporter Matthew Blake can be reached at (323)556-8332 or mblake@labusinessjournal.com
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, CLICK HERE.
In an interesting and unfortunate case,former World Poker Tour L. A. Poker Classic champion Dennis Blieden has pledguilty to several charges of embezzlement of millions of dollars. While he hasn’tbeen sentenced yet, it is highly likely the poker champion will not see theoutside world for some time.
Charges Include Identity Theft, Wire Fraud
The U. S. Attorney for the Central Districtof California, which covers the area of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Bernardinocounties (among others), has confirmed for several outlets that Blieden changedhis plea in his case earlier this week. The plea deal accepted by Blieden coversall the charges that were presented against him, including one charge ofidentity theft, two charges of unlawful forfeiture and 11 counts of wire fraud.Those 14 charges cover more than $22 million that Blieden unlawfully took froman employer.
In 2015, Blieden went to work for acompany called StyleHaul, Inc, and Blieden would pillage the company’s accountsfor the entirety of his four years of employment with the company. Over thattime, Blieden would use the money to fund his poker play around the world, histravel and even his debts to other players. Perhaps the biggest crime in theeyes of the authorities, however, was Blieden’s investment in cryptocurrency, inwhich Blieden took over $8.4 million.Dennis Blieden Sentence
With the guilty plea, Blieden is looking to avoid a massive amount of time in prison. If he had been convicted in court of the charges, Blieden was looking at over 200 years as a sentence. By accepting the plea bargain, Blieden is potentially looking at a sentence of 22 years, of which he’ll probably only serve three-quarters depending on his conduct in prison. Blieden is due to be sentenced in March 2020 and he will be staying in prison until that sentencing as the courts have determined him to be a flight risk.
The Fall is Worse than the Climb
It is truly a monumental fall for a pokerplayer who seemingly once had it all.
While employed by StyleHaul (it isentirely possible, but unproven, that Blieden used some of the funds from his embezzlementoperation to enter this tournament), Blieden entered the 2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event, one of the few $10,000 events left on the WPT andalso one of its most prestigious events. Battling through the 493-entry field,Blieden was able to defeat such players as Garrett Greer, Anthony Zinno, andToby Lewis on his way to claiming the title and the $1 million payday that wentalong with it.Bleiden
A taste of the “big time” proved to be too much for Blieden to handle, however. Blieden would not cash again in 2018, despite being a fixture on the tournament circuit. He wouldn’t make another cash until the 2019 World Series of Poker, where he min-cashed the $1500 Bounty event, and made a deep run in the partypoker MILLIONS Las Vegas, finishing 17th in that tournament for a $35,000 payday. It was after that finish in the MILLIONS that Blieden was arrested and taken into custody. Dennis Labrasca Federal Arrest
It is somewhat surprising that Blieden wasn’t caught before he was arrested. Many of the checks he wrote were directly to others in the poker community. He also leased property in Mexico in the company’s name without telling the company about it. Companies of this size usually have auditors that would catch such acts, but Blieden apparently covered his tracks well – well enough to get away with the crimes for almost four years.
Register here: http://gg.gg/p2pdh
https://diarynote.indered.space
Dennis Blieden, a professional poker player and a former executive at digital marketing company StyleHaul, has pled guilty to charges that he embezzled $22 million from his employer.The post. Dennis Blieden has pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. The 30-year-old professional poker player and tech exec had been accused of embezzling over $22m from his former employer, StyleHaul.
Blieden was the vice president of accounting and finance, and controller of StyleHaul, a digital company formerly based in Hollywood but that relocated to London earlier this year. The court heard. On STYLE HAUL, INC filed a Property - Other Property Fraud lawsuit against DENNIS BLIEDEN. This case was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Courts, Stanley Mosk Courthouse located in Los Angeles, California. The Judges overseeing this case are JAMES C. CHALFANT and MALCOLM MACKEY. The case status is Disposed - Judgment Entered.
StyleHaul’s Hollywood office. Photo by Ringo Chiu.
A Brief but Exhilarating Poker Career Back in March of 2018, an unknown in the poker world named Dennis Blieden rose to the top of a tough field of 493 entries to take down the $10,000 buy-in World.
The former controller for erstwhile digital media wonder company StyleHaul Inc. was indicted July 9 on charges of embezzling $22 million from the now defunct Hollywood outfit.
A federal grand jury in Las Vegas returned an indictment of 11 counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and two forfeiture counts against Dennis Blieden, 29, who operated as StyleHaul’s controller and vice president of accounting and finance from December 2015 to March 2019.
Prosecutors say Blieden spent millions of dollars of company money to support his frequent poker games. Blieden was the 2018 Los Angeles Poker Classic champion, but also purportedly siphoned millions from his employer toward tournament entry fees and paying off gambling debts.
According to prosecutors, Blieden also forged the signature of a StyleHaul executive to create a fictitious lease agreement for a condo rental in Rosarito Beach, Mexico.
A Los Angeles federal court judge will arraign Blieden, and future court proceedings will take place in Los Angeles.
Blieden’s time at StyleHaul coincided with the company’s demise and ultimate dissolution.
Stephanie Horbaczewski founded StyleHaul in 2011 as a YouTube multichannel network with content mostly provided by beauty, fashion and lifestyle creators.
A forerunner to the social media influencers of today, StyleHaul was purchased for $107 million in 2014 by Luxemborg-headquartered digital media giant RTL Group, which valued the company at $151 million.
But StyleHaul was one of several multichannel networks that struggled to either get consistent advertising revenue in its partnership with Alphabet Inc. subsidiary YouTube, or find other revenue sources.
“The market was a bit of a bubble, and it was a little strange that the MCN’s (multichannel network) revenues depended on one company,” said Jody Simon, an entertainment lawyer at Fox Rothschild. “They were basically living off YouTube.”
StyleHaul announced in March that it would shut down U.S. operations including the company’s main Hollywood office, which had 55 employees. The company said it would continue operating in London, but StyleHaul ceased operations completely in May.
Whether Blieden’s behavior accelerated StyleHaul’s decline is not clear. A spokesman for RTL Group declined to answer specific questions about how much Blieden hurt StyleHaul’s overall fortunes, but responded with a statement about the indictment:
“Earlier this year, StyleHaul identified certain accounting irregularities as part of an internal review, and its preliminary investigation found that over the past years Mr. Blieden executed a series of unauthorized transactions totaling about $22 million. StyleHaul immediately reported the issue to law enforcement and is cooperating fully with the authorities. Additionally, the company retained outside counsel, which conducted an internal investigation.”
Media and entertainment reporter Matthew Blake can be reached at (323)556-8332 or mblake@labusinessjournal.com
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, CLICK HERE.
In an interesting and unfortunate case,former World Poker Tour L. A. Poker Classic champion Dennis Blieden has pledguilty to several charges of embezzlement of millions of dollars. While he hasn’tbeen sentenced yet, it is highly likely the poker champion will not see theoutside world for some time.
Charges Include Identity Theft, Wire Fraud
The U. S. Attorney for the Central Districtof California, which covers the area of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Bernardinocounties (among others), has confirmed for several outlets that Blieden changedhis plea in his case earlier this week. The plea deal accepted by Blieden coversall the charges that were presented against him, including one charge ofidentity theft, two charges of unlawful forfeiture and 11 counts of wire fraud.Those 14 charges cover more than $22 million that Blieden unlawfully took froman employer.
In 2015, Blieden went to work for acompany called StyleHaul, Inc, and Blieden would pillage the company’s accountsfor the entirety of his four years of employment with the company. Over thattime, Blieden would use the money to fund his poker play around the world, histravel and even his debts to other players. Perhaps the biggest crime in theeyes of the authorities, however, was Blieden’s investment in cryptocurrency, inwhich Blieden took over $8.4 million.Dennis Blieden Sentence
With the guilty plea, Blieden is looking to avoid a massive amount of time in prison. If he had been convicted in court of the charges, Blieden was looking at over 200 years as a sentence. By accepting the plea bargain, Blieden is potentially looking at a sentence of 22 years, of which he’ll probably only serve three-quarters depending on his conduct in prison. Blieden is due to be sentenced in March 2020 and he will be staying in prison until that sentencing as the courts have determined him to be a flight risk.
The Fall is Worse than the Climb
It is truly a monumental fall for a pokerplayer who seemingly once had it all.
While employed by StyleHaul (it isentirely possible, but unproven, that Blieden used some of the funds from his embezzlementoperation to enter this tournament), Blieden entered the 2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event, one of the few $10,000 events left on the WPT andalso one of its most prestigious events. Battling through the 493-entry field,Blieden was able to defeat such players as Garrett Greer, Anthony Zinno, andToby Lewis on his way to claiming the title and the $1 million payday that wentalong with it.Bleiden
A taste of the “big time” proved to be too much for Blieden to handle, however. Blieden would not cash again in 2018, despite being a fixture on the tournament circuit. He wouldn’t make another cash until the 2019 World Series of Poker, where he min-cashed the $1500 Bounty event, and made a deep run in the partypoker MILLIONS Las Vegas, finishing 17th in that tournament for a $35,000 payday. It was after that finish in the MILLIONS that Blieden was arrested and taken into custody. Dennis Labrasca Federal Arrest
It is somewhat surprising that Blieden wasn’t caught before he was arrested. Many of the checks he wrote were directly to others in the poker community. He also leased property in Mexico in the company’s name without telling the company about it. Companies of this size usually have auditors that would catch such acts, but Blieden apparently covered his tracks well – well enough to get away with the crimes for almost four years.
Register here: http://gg.gg/p2pdh
https://diarynote.indered.space
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