Ex-Merrill broker nabbed in gambling ring

A judge today revoked the bail of former Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. broker, one day after he was arrested for alleged involvement in a $30 million Internet gambling ring, according to Reuters.
Timothy O’Connell, who is on trial for securities fraud, was one of 17 people charged with operating an online gambling enterprise out of a strip club and a restaurant in Queens, New York last night, the Queens County District Attorney’s office said.
The ring promoted illegal sports betting and the defendants were involved with a gambling wire room in Costa Rica.
Mr. O’Connell is also one of several former day-traders and brokers accused of orchestrating securities fraud through the improper use of information that was broadcast over brokers’ “squawk boxes,” according to the report.
U.S. prosecutors have alleged that the former brokers, who worked at Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., took bribes in exchange for allowing traders at now-defunct broker dealer A.B. Watley.
Judge I. Leo Glasser, who is hearing the “squawk box” case in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., ordered that Mr. O’Connell’s bail be revoked, saying he had violated the terms of the bond.
His arrest has postponed his securities fraud trial.
Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Lehman Brothers are based in New York.