Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Lawyer: Charged sports betting pro worked as informant

By: Associated Press//November 25, 2015//

Lawyer: Charged sports betting pro worked as informant

By: Associated Press//November 25, 2015//

Listen to this article

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A former lawyer for a Florida sports betting pro facing federal extortion charges in Wisconsin has claimed the man worked as an informant and helped in the seizure of $750 million from offshore bookies.

Adam Meyer is accused of extorting $25 million from a Fond du Lac liquor store owner, who is a former client. In court documents unsealed Tuesday, Meyer’s former attorney claimed he began working as an informant for federal and state law enforcement following a possible indictment in the early 2000s.

The former attorney for Meyer also claimed his informant work “resulted in the arrest of at least 30 individuals,” including two people from organized crime families.

The claims were in motions written in March and filed under seal, the Journal Sentinel reports. The documents were unsealed by U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman in response to the newspaper’s court challenge to a March secrecy order.

The motions were meant to support Meyer’s since-abandoned plans for insanity and public authority defenses. In public authority defenses, defendants claim they violated the law at the direction of law enforcement, such as when informants buy drugs.

In the insanity defense motion, Meyer’s former attorney said Meyer’s thought processing and “executive functioning” had deteriorated due in large part to the lifestyle and “role” he portrayed acting as an informant. The attorney claimed Meyer befriended “members of the Mafia,” ”loan sharks” and “extortionists,” while working as informant, and also dealt with drug dealers and “known and feared mobsters.”

Meyer was a betting handicapper who sold his tips and billed himself as the “sports consultant to the stars.” He was arrested at his south Florida home late last year on charges of wire fraud, extortion, racketeering and brandishing a firearm. A six-count indictment was issued by a Wisconsin grand jury.

Calls made by the Journal Sentinel seeking comment from Meyer’s current attorney were not returned. Acting U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad declined to comment.

Meyer is being held without bail in Dodge County Detention Facility. His $1 million bail was revoked in April after failing drug tests and getting kicked out of a Florida drug rehab center.

Meyer’s trial is scheduled to open in February.

Polls

Should Wisconsin Supreme Court rules be amended so attorneys can't appeal license revocation after 5 years?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests