Since 1988, Card Player magazine is known as one of the world's oldest and most well-respected poker magazines and online poker guide, and recently it has been found out that this widely known publication has been a victim of more than $1 million in theft, according to charges filed by Clark County prosecutors in Las Vegas.
Shelby McCann, who also goes by the name Anna McCann, was indicted of a total of 24 felonies last Thursday, right after prosecutors filed charges against her, saying that she stole from Card Player magazine when she started working for the brand as bookkeeper in September 2011. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, she is charged with a variety of wrongdoings, including the use of checks made out to herself to pay off her credit card expenses, increase her salary, and pay off for her many other expenditures.
The publication is popular to many casino and poker players all over America, where it is usually available for free in casino-poker rooms. The magazine is owned by CEO Barry Shulman (who purchased the publication back in 1998) and his wife Allyn Jaffrey Shulman (who also acts as the magazine's lawyer).
The publication reported that the theft possibly started the time McCann was hired up until she resigned in August 2016. The company officials discovered about the thefts after the fact emerged that there was no more money left to pay for the bills.
The Shulmans
The Shulmans are a better known family name in the world of poker. Aside from publishing the magazine, they have pretty impressive poker portfolio to their names.
Barry Shulman has over $5 million in lifetime tournament earnings, including two WSOP bracelets (one of them in which he won the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2009). Barry's son Jeff Shulman is also a successful player with nearly $3.5 million in tourney wins. He got 5th place in the 2009 WSOP Main Event for $1.95 million and 7th in the same event in 2000 for $146,700.
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman has over $600,000 in lifetime tournament wins plus a WSOP bracelet.
The Charges
Prosecutors claim that McCann, who was hired as the magazine's bookkeeper, had also used the funds to help her move to Hawaii as well, where she was arrested recently. She was also accused of having siphoned the magazine's money into a crowdfunding site in order to help pay for an adoption.
All in all, prosecutors claim that she stole about $1.1 million during the time she was employed at the company. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman said that the real total was over $1.4 million.
After they learned of the misdeeds, Barry Shulman and son Jeff Shulman (who serves as chief operating officer) both placed $20,000 back in the business to help cover for the company's urgent needs and to enable to magazine to stand up again and run efficiently. Allyn said, "Her embezzlement didn't affect business or payroll at all."
Allyn added that at some point in the investigation after the theft was discovered, the company learned that McCann even sent flowers to herself using the company's funds. Allyn said, "Employees tell me she would walk around the office saying, ‘Look how much my husband loves me", when she had actually sent the flowers to herself with our money. She wrote checks to herself, sent money to her husband, paid off four different credit cards, bought airline tickets, stole petty cash, bought clothes and other items and had them sent to her home, made large donations to one of her many GoFundMe accounts, and changed her salary every two weeks for five years.
McCann also stole money to buy a house in Hawaii, which eventually foreclosed. The company alleges she forged a letter coming from Card Player stating that she worked remotely and earns $200,000 annually so that she could have a loan approved for the house.
McCann's Defense
McCann and her husband Benjamin have set up a crowdfunding page to aid in paying for her defense and dispute the charges made against her.
On the page it says, "The charges against her are so over the top it's absurd. Without giving too much detail, they reported to police that every dime she made there over a base $37,000/year salary was fraudulent and unauthorized. Anna had worked for two law firms in California in the capacity as a controller/accountant before this employer. She was bonded in both California and Nevada."
On the page it also said that the charges were termed as "vindictive retaliation" saying "This is entertainment to her accusers and they have deep pockets. My initial goal is to cover her bail bond and to provide a retainer to a defense attorney." The site had raised $468 so far from a goal of $20,000, but it was closed after Nevada prosecutors announced the charges.
Source:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/woman-charged-in-las-vegas-with-theft-of-1m-from-poker-magazine/
