{"id":100085,"date":"2019-03-07T14:21:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T22:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=100085"},"modified":"2019-03-07T14:21:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T22:21:43","slug":"vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Lawyer Wrongfully Convicted Over $300 Million \u2018Gambling Ring\u2019 Turns Tables on Prosecutors With $50 Million Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lawyer wrongfully imprisoned in 2014<\/a> for being the \u201cmastermind\u201d of a $300 million Florida \u201cgambling ring\u201d is suing the state\u2019s former AG Pam Bondi and former Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger, among others, for $50 million, alleging malicious and wrongful prosecution.<\/p>\n

\"Kelly
Kelly Mathis believes he was maliciously prosecuted by a sheriff who was hungry to seize assets from internet caf\u00e9s businesses offering sweepstakes games, like Allied Veterans, which he still still asserts was a legal operation. (Image: News4Jax)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kelly Mathis was among 57 people arrested in 2013 police raids on internet caf\u00e9s offering sweepstakes games that simulated slot machines.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact he was simply an attorney offering legal advice to a chain of internet cafes called Allied Veterans of the World, he was the only one of those 57 detainees to serve a prison sentence. Everyone else took a plea bargain and escaped jailtime.<\/p>\n

Because Mathis held no ownership stake in Allied Veterans and did not stand to profit based on its success, he elected to stand trial, fully expecting to be acquitted. But he was convicted on 103 racketeering and gambling-related charges — including “ownership of a slot machine” — and was sentenced to six years in prison.<\/p>\n

Sheriff ‘Vendetta’ Alleged<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mathis — who, until his conviction, served on numerous volunteer boards and had been a bar association president — has said he believes Sheriff Eslinger held a vendetta against him because he had successfully defended several sweepstakes caf\u00e9 owners against the Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s attempts to shut them down and seize their assets.<\/p>\n

His conviction was quashed in 2016 after an appellate court ruled — among other things — that prosecutors had failed to present evidence that Mathis was acting as anything but a lawyer for the company. The state appealed the decision to the Florida Supreme Court, which refused to hear it.<\/p>\n

The tide has turned,” Mathis told WJXT on Wednesday. “It is now time to make those who tried to do this to me — that took away my livelihood, took away my practice,\u00a0took away four years of my life —\u00a0to hold them accountable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Business Was Legal, Mathis Claims<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sweepstakes games are not considered gambling businesses under Florida law if they are used to promote another legitimate core product, which is how fast food restaurants like McDonalds are able to offer games of chance.<\/p>\n

Mathis \u201ccrime\u201d was to offer his legal opinion that Allied Veterans — an organization that donated a portion of its profits to veterans\u2019 causes — was legitimate, an opinion he upholds to this day. He argues that Allied Veterans\u2019 core product was internet supply, not gambling, as alleged by the prosecution during his trial.<\/p>\n

According to the Mathis\u2019 lawsuit, when the company opened its first internet caf\u00e9 in 2009, the attorney sent Eslinger a letter outlining the legal justification for its operations. The sheriff refused to meet with Mathis to discuss the situation, it claims.<\/p>\n

Mathis also claims the defendants were \u201cwell aware that asset seizures \u2026 could bring in millions of dollars into the Seminole County Sheriff\u2019s and Attorney General\u2019s Office, as well as fuel Defendant Eslinger\u2019s political career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case was high-profile at the time because it led to the resignation of Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll due to her connections with Allied Veterans. While Carroll was never charged with a crime, her PR firm had worked for the company and she had appeared in one of its TV spots, extolling its work for veterans\u2019 charities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lawyer wrongfully imprisoned in 2014 for being the \u201cmastermind\u201d of a $300 million Florida \u201cgambling ring\u201d is suing the state\u2019s former AG Pam Bondi and former Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger, among others, for $50 million, alleging malicious and wrongful prosecution. Kelly Mathis was among 57 people arrested in 2013 police raids on internet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":100087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVindicated Florida Lawyer Kelly Mathis Sues State for $50 Million<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Florida lawyer Kelly Mathis who was convicted in 2014 for being the mastermind of $300 million illegal gambling operation, Allied Veterans of the World, is suing his former prosecutors after his conviction was quashed in appeal courts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vindicated Florida Lawyer Kelly Mathis Sues State for $50 Million\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Florida lawyer Kelly Mathis who was convicted in 2014 for being the mastermind of $300 million illegal gambling operation, Allied Veterans of the World, is suing his former prosecutors after his conviction was quashed in appeal courts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-07T22:21:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1278\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/\",\"name\":\"Vindicated Florida Lawyer Kelly Mathis Sues State for $50 Million\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-07T22:21:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-07T22:21:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Florida lawyer Kelly Mathis who was convicted in 2014 for being the mastermind of $300 million illegal gambling operation, Allied Veterans of the World, is suing his former prosecutors after his conviction was quashed in appeal courts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg\",\"width\":1278,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Kelly Mathis believes he was maliciously prosecuted by a sheriff who was hungry to seize assets from internet caf\u00e9s businesses offering sweepstakes games, like Allied Veterans, which he still believes was a legal operation. (Image: News4Jax)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crime & Scandals\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Florida Lawyer Wrongfully Convicted Over $300 Million \u2018Gambling Ring\u2019 Turns Tables on Prosecutors With $50 Million Lawsuit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vindicated Florida Lawyer Kelly Mathis Sues State for $50 Million","description":"Florida lawyer Kelly Mathis who was convicted in 2014 for being the mastermind of $300 million illegal gambling operation, Allied Veterans of the World, is suing his former prosecutors after his conviction was quashed in appeal courts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vindicated Florida Lawyer Kelly Mathis Sues State for $50 Million","og_description":"Florida lawyer Kelly Mathis who was convicted in 2014 for being the mastermind of $300 million illegal gambling operation, Allied Veterans of the World, is suing his former prosecutors after his conviction was quashed in appeal courts.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-03-07T22:21:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1278,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/","name":"Vindicated Florida Lawyer Kelly Mathis Sues State for $50 Million","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-07T22:21:43+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-07T22:21:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Florida lawyer Kelly Mathis who was convicted in 2014 for being the mastermind of $300 million illegal gambling operation, Allied Veterans of the World, is suing his former prosecutors after his conviction was quashed in appeal courts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/kelly-mathis.jpg","width":1278,"height":720,"caption":"Kelly Mathis believes he was maliciously prosecuted by a sheriff who was hungry to seize assets from internet caf\u00e9s businesses offering sweepstakes games, like Allied Veterans, which he still believes was a legal operation. (Image: News4Jax)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vindicated-florida-lawyer-kelly-mathis-sues-state-for-50-million\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crime & Scandals","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Florida Lawyer Wrongfully Convicted Over $300 Million \u2018Gambling Ring\u2019 Turns Tables on Prosecutors With $50 Million Lawsuit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100085"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}