Utah Sports Betting Scam Could Land One Man Prison Time

• Sindakit Software was a company that claimed it had the algorithm to win in the sports betting game.
• The company was a scam created by a man in Utah who now faces charges of fraud and money laundering.
• Investors of Sindakit Software put and then lost $7 million into what was said to be the future of sports wagering.

SALT LAKE CITY – A convicted felon in Utah is now charged with running a fraudulent sports betting scam that took millions of dollars from innocent victims.

Christopher D. Hales who was working under the alias Chris Christian told investors that he had created a product for gambling on sporting events that could beat the house with the algorithm it used to wager on various sports.

But it was all a lie as he had no actual product of any kind for people to invest in. Surprisingly, this is not the first time that Hales has been charged with fraud, however, it is the first time his scams have involved sports betting.

A Look Into Christopher D. Hales

In 2011, the 39-year-old Hales was involved in mortgage fraud that resulted in a 7.5-year prison sentence and $12.7 million owed in restitution to the victims in the case.

Rather than be released in 2018 as scheduled, he was allowed to leave prison in 2016, shaving two years off of his sentence because he finished a drug treatment program successfully. Drugs were said to be part of why he originally involved himself in the crime for which he was convicted, to begin with.

Time in prison didn’t turn Hales’ life around as he went to the state of Nevada upon his release and immediately lost $200,000 at a casino.

He was supposed to be giving that money to his victims and start paying them what he owed but he chose to gamble it away. This led to his return to prison because it violated the terms of his probation. In 2018, after serving out the remainder of his sentence, he was sent to live in a halfway house.

Prior to his release though, he had already cooked up a sports betting scam with an unnamed friend.

They opened a company in Nevada, at least in name, called Sindakit Software. This would be the “software” that he sold to investors with claims of a 10% return weekly on their investment because it was the future in sports wagering innovation and with the popularity of legal sports betting sweeping the nation, the demand for his product would be huge.

What Now?

The U.S. District Court and their file on the case against Hales show that he took $7 million from people who put money into his fake company.

This money was then laundered through Sindakit Software before being used for personal expenses, much of which went to actual sports wagers by Hales. Investors were told their money would be matched dollar for dollar when in actuality it went toward opening lines of credit on various sportsbooks for Hales to gamble and hedge bets.

The company and the software did not exist, there was no magic algorithm created to beat the house for wagering on game day matchups.

The charges against Hales include fraud and money laundering, two charges he’s familiar with from his past stints in prison. He will go before a judge next week in federal court for a plea hearing.

News tags: Chris Christian | Christopher D. Hales | Nevada | Sindakit Software | U.S. District Court | Utah