Fraud Accusation Clouds Charity Poker Podcast Marathon

Fraud Accusation Clouds Charity Poker Podcast Marathon

Podcast organizer denies the accusation that he stole more than $2500 in charitable donations from listeners.

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By Haley Hintze

February 08, 2013

A poker-themed charity fundraiser, intended for victims of chromosomal disorder 22Q, has turned into an embarrassing and potentially troublesome affair legally for its organizer, John Sepulveda, after recent allegations of misappropriation of donated funds.

Sepulveda, known online as “Jasep,” was the driving force behind a 50-hour poker-podcast marathon that ran in early September of 2012, all to benefit victims of the 22Q11.2 chromosomal deletion, a defect that impacts as many as one in every 2,000 children.

In allegations first published on a private poker blog called “Six Toed Pete” and later brought to the Todd Witteles-run PokerFraudAlert, Sepulveda was accused of failing to send the funds on to the 22Q charity, instead keeping the donations for himself.

Additional published information showed Sepulveda to be involved in other legal situations including bad and unpaid debts. A 22Q spokesman recently confirmed that direct-donation contributions made during the podcast were successful, but more than $2,500 sent to Sepulveda could not yet be confirmed.

In a separate statement, Sepulveda claimed that the 22Q charity did receive the missing money, but it was sent via an unnamed third party, to allow that person to claim a tax-deductible contribution that now appears fraudulent.

Sepulveda also acknowledged additional unpaid debts of more than $12,000, with no ready means of repaying them.

Sepulveda, who organized the “Ironman Podcast” held at VegasPokerRadio, drew unexpected support from the community after promotional posts on behalf of the fundraiser marathon were blocked from 2+2, with that forum’s co-owner, Mason Malmuth, checking in on the matter to state that charitable posts were banned in principle to keep his forums from being overrun with such postings.

The outcry helped Sepulveda and co-hosts Brandon “Drexel” Gerson and Kevin Wright land an all-star lineup of guests for the podcast marathon, including Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh, Norman Chad, baseball’s Ryan Dempster, Shannon Shorr, Jamie Gold, Gavin Griffin, Dusty Schmidt, Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers, Matt Savage, Greg Raymer, Jonathon Little, Tony G, movie critic Richard Roeper, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Chris Moneymaker, Victor Ramdin, and David Plastik.

In recent days, many poker people have stepped forward to donate extra funds to the 22Q effort to counteract any shortfall between what was promised and what was actually sent. Among those was 2+2’s Malmuth, who pledged $2,500 in the wake of the fundraiser’s embarrassing aftermath.