Sports Gambling Update

InGoodCo

Well-Known Member
No probable cause and players were not afforded due process. This is just getting started but it's going to swing back that other way.

Update on the sports gambling investigation that rocked Iowa and ISU Athletics.

Attorney Van Plumb is requesting that the State provide requested discovery as well as additional discovery after the deposition of DCI Special Agents on 1/19/24.

The motion filed today lays out how the attorney alleged the investigation began: “The State’s argument that “DCI agents began to identify irregular online/mobile sports wagering activity originating from state organizations that regularly participate in sanctioned sports wagering contests” was actually the result of Special Agent Brian Sanger conducting a warrantless search on Iowa and Iowa State’s campuses. Special Agent Brian Sanger was given access to a tool that can invade people’s privacy. He initially used Kibana to place a warrantless GeoFence around a freshman/sophomore dorm at the University of Iowa to investigate underage gambling without any tips, complaints, or evidence that underage gambling was occurring. The use of Kibana allowed him to see that online betting applications were opened in the dorms but the software did not allow him to determine if bets were actually being made. The other information he was able to see was the account numbers associated with the applications which did not contain identifying information about who was using the account. Special Agent Sanger approached his superior Troy Nelson and Assistant DCI Director Jobes to ask for permission to continue the investigation. He was told no.

“Special Agent Sanger then decided to target an athletic facility at the University of Iowa because it was a stand-alone facility with restricted access to athletes, coaching staff and support personal. Again, this was done without a warrant, tips, complaints, or evidence that illegal gambling was occurring. “Special Agent Sanger identified the same information he had in relation to the dorm. He consulted his team of Heather Dunow, Phil Kennedy, Chris Atkins, and Chris Swigart to discuss continuing the investigation and again approached Special Agent Troy Nelson and Assistant Director Jobes who gave him the green light to continue the investigation. “Without reasonable cause the team of Special Agents targeted more facilities as well as began requesting subpoenas to obtain account information on hundreds of private citizens private information which was also without reasonable cause.

“The result was the indictment of a handful of Iowa’s Student Athletes even though the privacy of hundreds had been invaded. “During Special Agent Sanger’s deposition on January 19, 2024, he stated that he cannot remember why he decided to conduct the warrantless searches but that he was concerned about things such as people infiltrating Iowa’s sports team to gain insider information or match fixing. “Special Agent Sanger also stated that only those Athletes that had used an account registered to a different person were charged and that those who had gambled in an account in their names were handled administratively. The Defense has received information that indicates this is not true and that in fact, there is a possibility that only high-profile athletes were targeted when charges were filed in the fall of 2023.”
 
Too early in the process to make strong judgments as to how this may turn out. However, when you're messing around with potential breach of a person's constitutional rights you're inviting big trouble. Will take some time for this to play out but it could have a poor ending for the DCI. Lots of water to go over the dam before this issue is laid to rest.
 
Too early in the process to make strong judgments as to how this may turn out. However, when you're messing around with potential breach of a person's constitutional rights you're inviting big trouble. Will take some time for this to play out but it could have a poor ending for the DCI. Lots of water to go over the dam before this issue is laid to rest.
You are right in it has a long ways to go, but ya got your ducks in a row before you go after the DCI, they must have compelling evidence and feel pretty confident
 
Just shaking my head. Hopefully those involved will get to the bottom of this.
 
Noah Shannon should sue for $150M, settle with the state for $20M and Sanger should get thrown in with general population in Ft Madison for 10 years.

None of that will happen, but it should.
And you're being too soft...

Amen man there's a bunch of lawyers lining up now. That's as damning of a statement as could be about all this. This goes deeper then just Shannon and the guys they made examples of. They violated the rights of that whole buildings worth of tenants and more. There's hundreds of future plaintiffs with this. That Sanger dude might be lucky to get 10 yrs I could see it being double that plus being sued for all he's worth.

At least Shannon is going to get something out of his senior year at the end of the day.
 
Noah Shannon should sue for $150M, settle with the state for $20M and Sanger should get thrown in with general population in Ft Madison for 10 years.

None of that will happen, but it should.
And it should come out of the DCI pension fund, not from the taxpayers. Maybe good LEOs will stop covering for shitty LEOs when it actually affects them.
 
This is a can of worms. Sanger purchasing the software, using geo fencing to locate underage gamblers, and being told to stop, but continuing. Then targeting specifically the athletic complex at the U of I. Lots of things to digest here.

The DCI and the state have already taken a lot of heat. Now, with this, there are legal issues such as rights violations and warrantless searches. I'm not attorney so I won't dive into that any more. But, you would think the DCI will want this to go away as well as Special Investigator Sanger.

The potential for repercussions and lawsuits. Yikes! It will be interesting how the NCAA handles this as well. They are their own organization and I'm gonna guess it won't matter what happens in our courtrooms.
 
Bored government workers hunting for kids engaging in victimless crimes and bending the privacy laws of this country to do so? Sad.

I won't jump to judgment as hard as some here, as there is a lot to playout. But, at first blush, this seems to be an abuse of administrative, police, and judicial discretion. At some point, a grown-up has to say, "wait, how did we get this information and why are we selectively enforcing the law?"
 
Bored government workers hunting for kids engaging in victimless crimes and bending the privacy laws of this country to do so? Sad.

I won't jump to judgment as hard as some here, as there is a lot to playout. But, at first blush, this seems to be an abuse of administrative, police, and judicial discretion. At some point, a grown-up has to say, "wait, how did we get this information and why are we selectively enforcing the law?"
Sue the basters & the NCAA they didn’t even look into it I bet just went along with the state.
 
Bored government workers hunting for kids engaging in victimless crimes and bending the privacy laws of this country to do so? Sad.

I won't jump to judgment as hard as some here, as there is a lot to playout. But, at first blush, this seems to be an abuse of administrative, police, and judicial discretion. At some point, a grown-up has to say, "wait, how did we get this information and why are we selectively enforcing the law?"
Man, that's one of my main takeaways. There were ample opportunities for Sanger's superiors to shut this down based on how the information was collected and the lack of any evidence to justify the "investigative" techniques being employed. There were a lot of red flags that numerous senior folks ignored. At first blush, hard to see how only Sanger can be thrown under the bus.
 
What if an FBI agent just decided that Chinese Americans are more likely to be engaged in espionage for the Chinese government, and off a hunch, decided to start this sort of electronic snooping set up around every Chinese restaurant, deli or other Chinese owned business in the city to see if any particular websites or apps were employed that could foster such illegal activity?

You could never get a warrant for something like that, and that is why this guy did not seek a warrant here. A hunch is not grounds for a search.

We all knew from the outset that there was clear selective enforcement by the state here in targeting only athletes. But, I had no clue the investigation started in such a haphazard manner. Yowza.
 
What if an FBI agent just decided that Chinese Americans are more likely to be engaged in espionage for the Chinese government, and off a hunch, decided to start this sort of electronic snooping set up around every Chinese restaurant, deli or other Chinese owned business in the city to see if any particular websites or apps were employed that could foster such illegal activity?

You could never get a warrant for something like that, and that is why this guy did not seek a warrant here. A hunch is not grounds for a search.

We all knew from the outset that there was clear selective enforcement by the state here in targeting only athletes. But, I had no clue the investigation started in such a haphazard manner. Yowza.

There was this little statute that appeared out of nowhere about 22, 23 years ago that grants the federales significant national security and anti-terrorism investigative powers. The FBI doesn't need to do stuff like you suggest, they can just contact the NSA and get the information or demand the ISP/telecom providers give it to them. Their biggest inconvenience is that they may have to ask a judge from the FISA court for permission, but that court was set up to basically be a rubber stamp factory for anything Uncle Sug wants to look into.

Ground level law enforcement is full of authoritarians with absolutely no judgment and personality tests are given to make sure that jackholes just like this guy wind up in that job. The government will argue, with a straight face, that the data swiped to start the investigation was not private, as it was specifically transmitted over a network owned by the State or via spectrum auctioned or regulated by the FCC. I doubt there's any Joe Fridays sitting down at the state DCI. These are guys who got shoved into lockers in high school who still hate jocks, then you mix in the jocks making money and it drives these guys stark raving mad.
 
Bored government workers hunting for kids engaging in victimless crimes and bending the privacy laws of this country to do so? Sad.

I won't jump to judgment as hard as some here, as there is a lot to playout. But, at first blush, this seems to be an abuse of administrative, police, and judicial discretion. At some point, a grown-up has to say, "wait, how did we get this information and why are we selectively enforcing the law?"
There’s a hell of a lot of this going on in our country. People being singled out, etc. It’s coordinated, kept quiet by people across the spectrum and pathetic
 
There was this little statute that appeared out of nowhere about 22, 23 years ago that grants the federales significant national security and anti-terrorism investigative powers. The FBI doesn't need to do stuff like you suggest, they can just contact the NSA and get the information or demand the ISP/telecom providers give it to them. Their biggest inconvenience is that they may have to ask a judge from the FISA court for permission, but that court was set up to basically be a rubber stamp factory for anything Uncle Sug wants to look into.

Ground level law enforcement is full of authoritarians with absolutely no judgment and personality tests are given to make sure that jackholes just like this guy wind up in that job. The government will argue, with a straight face, that the data swiped to start the investigation was not private, as it was specifically transmitted over a network owned by the State or via spectrum auctioned or regulated by the FCC. I doubt there's any Joe Fridays sitting down at the state DCI. These are guys who got shoved into lockers in high school who still hate jocks, then you mix in the jocks making money and it drives these guys stark raving mad.

If this weren't the internet...
And you weren't a dude (presumably)...
And it wasn't weird...
I'd kiss you.
 
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