{"id":162000,"date":"2021-01-20T22:29:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T06:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=162000"},"modified":"2021-01-21T08:16:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T16:16:21","slug":"walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Walters ‘Extremely Grateful’ for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a statement released Wednesday, retired professional gambler Billy Walters said he was thankful President Trump commuted his five-year sentence on an insider trading conviction. But he also plans to proceed with a civil lawsuit against those who prosecuted and investigated his case.<\/p>\n

\"Billy
Retired gambler Billy Walters in an undated picture at his Carlsbad, Calif. home. The retired gambler said Wednesday he was grateful to President Trump for commuting his five-year federal prison sentence on an insider trading conviction. (Image: RealBillyWalters.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Walters was one of 143 individuals who received either pardons or commutations<\/a> in a list the White House released early Wednesday morning in the waning hours of the administration.<\/p>\n

I am thankful to the President and extremely grateful for the longstanding support of friends and family, especially my wife, Susan,\u2019<\/strong>\u2019 Walters said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI have tried to lead a life marked by concern for others, and I hope those qualities, along with the government misconduct that led to my wrongful conviction, convinced the White House to grant me clemency. I also hope this sends a strong message to law enforcement to refrain from illegal misconduct in pursuing their targets. I look forward to vindication as I pursue my civil damages case in federal court.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was convicted of insider trading in April 2017 and sentenced three months later. He was originally scheduled to be released on Jan. 10, 2022. According to the Trump Administration announcement, Walters also paid $44 million in fines, restitution, and forfeitures.<\/p>\n

Last spring, Walters was released from serving his sentence in a Florida federal prison and allowed to serve out the remainder at his California home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if Trump\u2019s commutation took effect immediately. The Bureau of Prisons web site still showed the January 2022 release date on its registry as of late Wednesday night. It also showed he was still part of a residential re-entry program in southern California.<\/p>\n

Clemency Campaign Lasted Three Years<\/h2>\n

According to the release, Walters\u2019 lawyers sought a reprieve from the Trump administration shortly after their client was sentenced.<\/p>\n

Walters’ statement did not make reference to John Dowd<\/a>, a former Trump attorney the New York Times<\/em> reported was allegedly working on Walters\u2019 behalf in the President\u2019s final days in office.<\/p>\n

\n

A key part of the push for clemency were the allegations of misconduct by federal prosecutors and investigators, including former New York US Attorney Preet Bharara and former FBI Supervisory Agent David Chaves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe US Attorney\u2019s Office admitted that Chaves illegally leaked secret grand jury information to the media as part of an effort to entrap Mr. Walters,\u201d said Pierce O\u2019Donnell, a senior partner with the Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP law firm in Los Angeles, who is representing Walters in the civil case.<\/p>\n

\u201cProsecutors led by Bharara covered up Chaves\u2019s unlawful conduct for more than two years before being forced to acknowledge their wrongdoing. Without presidential clemency, this wrong never would have been righted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walters was accused of using information from a former chairman of Dean Foods, who was in debt to him, to make stock trades and reap substantial profits. He also was found to give that information to pro golfer Phil Mickelson, who then used the proceeds of his trades to repay his own debts to Walters.<\/p>\n

Elected Officials Praised Walters’ Civic Work<\/h2>\n

Walters became famous in the 1980s as he moved to Las Vegas from his native Kentucky. He used computer technology to help identify sports betting opportunities. He also was a champion poker player. He leveraged the fortune he made in gaming and used it to operate a business venture that includes golf courses and automotive dealerships.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also donated and raised millions for social causes, including helping to generate $50 million for Opportunity Village, a nonprofit agency that provides job training and recreational opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities. It\u2019s an issue personal for him since his son suffered a traumatic brain injury at age 7 while undergoing surgery for a brain tumor.<\/p>\n

A bipartisan group of Nevada leaders noted Walters\u2019 philanthropic efforts when they urged Trump to consider his case. Besides former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and ex-Gov. Jim Gibbons, other signatories on the letter included former U.S. Rep Shelley Berkley, current Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, and her husband, former Mayor Oscar Goodman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a statement released Wednesday, retired professional gambler Billy Walters said he was thankful President Trump commuted his five-year sentence on an insider trading conviction. But he also plans to proceed with a civil lawsuit against those who prosecuted and investigated his case. Walters was one of 143 individuals who received either pardons or commutations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":162001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWalters Extremely Grateful for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Retired gambler Billy Walters, sentenced to five years in prison for a federal insider trading conviction, seeks vindication in civil suit.\" \/>\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\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walters Extremely Grateful for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Retired gambler Billy Walters, sentenced to five years in prison for a federal insider trading conviction, seeks vindication in civil suit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/\" \/>\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=\"2021-01-21T06:29:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-21T16:16:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"585\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/\",\"name\":\"Walters Extremely Grateful for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-21T06:29:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-21T16:16:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Retired gambler Billy Walters, sentenced to five years in prison for a federal insider trading conviction, seeks vindication in civil suit.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":585,\"caption\":\"Retired gambler Billy Walters in an undated picture at his Carlsbad, Calif. home. The retired gambler said Wednesday he was grateful to President Trump for commuting his five-year federal prison sentence on an insider trading conviction. (Image: RealBillyWalters.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Famous Players\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/players\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Billy Walters ‘Extremely Grateful’ for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case\"}]},{\"@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\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"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-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Walters Extremely Grateful for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case","description":"Retired gambler Billy Walters, sentenced to five years in prison for a federal insider trading conviction, seeks vindication in civil suit.","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\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Walters Extremely Grateful for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case","og_description":"Retired gambler Billy Walters, sentenced to five years in prison for a federal insider trading conviction, seeks vindication in civil suit.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-01-21T06:29:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-21T16:16:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":585,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/","name":"Walters Extremely Grateful for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg","datePublished":"2021-01-21T06:29:55+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-21T16:16:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"Retired gambler Billy Walters, sentenced to five years in prison for a federal insider trading conviction, seeks vindication in civil suit.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Bill_WaltersHomeMobile.jpg","width":1000,"height":585,"caption":"Retired gambler Billy Walters in an undated picture at his Carlsbad, Calif. home. The retired gambler said Wednesday he was grateful to President Trump for commuting his five-year federal prison sentence on an insider trading conviction. (Image: RealBillyWalters.com)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walters-extremely-grateful-for-trump-clemency-still-pursuing-civil-case\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Famous Players","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/players\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Billy Walters ‘Extremely Grateful’ for Trump Clemency, Still Pursuing Civil Case"}]},{"@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\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","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-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162000"}],"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\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}