Feds Seize $2.5M from Metro Detroit Gambler

DETROIT, MI — Brian Benderoff, a professional gambler from Southfield who racked up six-figure gambling debts, was part of a scheme with two others to scam investors out of hundreds to thousands of dollars to finance gambling trips to Las Vegas, the federal government alleges in a civil forfeiture court case unfolding in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Brian Benderoff, 50, of Southfield, doesn’t face criminal charges

The scheme worked until Benderoff, 50, and his associates arrived at the Detroit Metro Airport in June with a suitcase full of money — about $2.5 million, about $1.6 million of it in cash, according to court documents in the suit filed Dec. 23. The feds say the money was illegally obtained.

Federal authorities were alerted after Transportation Security Administration agents at McCarren Airport in Las Vegas spotted a large amount of cash in the carry-on luggage of one of Benderoff’s associates as they about to board a flight bound for Detroit. Two federal agents were waiting at the arrival gate when the flight arrived, then escorted them to the luggage carousel, where six bags belonging to Benderoff and his associates were searched, according to court documents.

Inside the luggage, agents found $886,372 in cash in Benderoff's luggage; a cashier’s check for $850,000 drawn from Benderoff's account at Caesars Palace Casino in Las Vegas; a $150,000 cashier’s check in Benderoff’s luggage; and $699,00 in cash in the unnamed associate’s luggage.

“Benderoff told agents that a majority of these funds were the 'cashed out' proceeds of recent gambling activity in Las Vegas,” according to the court filing.

Benderoff told the agents that he was a professional gambler and that he and two associates had been in Las Vegas for several weeks, according to the filing.

The associates cooperated with the feds and said the money was from unwitting investors for bogus business deals, but instead it was used for gambling, according to the filing.

One of Benderoff’s attorneys, Gerald (Gerry) Gleeson, told the Detroit Free Press, said the legal team is “looking forward to sorting it out in the next couple of months,” but declined additional comment. Another top-shelf attorney, Thomas Cranmer, is also part of Benderoff’s legal team.

Among the alleged victims is a Bloomfield Hills physician, Dr. Sheldon Gonte, who alleged in a lawsuit filed in Oakland County Circuit Court that Benderoff stiffed him on a $2.6 million loan, the Free Press reported.

According to the filing, Gonte loaned the money because his brother was Benderoff’s business partner. He had borrowed $2 million from the brothers’ parents, but never paid it back, the lawsuit claims, so Gonte loaned Benderoff $2.6 million to satisfy the debt. But neither Gonte nor his parents were repaid, according to the Oakland County filing.

Benderoff’s is a familiar face in courtrooms. The Free Press reported that he filed for bankruptcy in 2001, has been a defendant in several Oakland County lawsuits and a 2008 federal lawsuit in New Jersey for allegedly scamming a travel agent out of more than $600,000 in loans.

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