Former player convicted in gambling operation

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 11:02 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA -- A former professional football player was convicted of running a sports gambling business in Allentown, a year after his brothers were acquitted of similar charges.

George Atiyeh, 43, acknowledges having operated a sports wagering business, but said the bets were processed in Canada and the Caribbean, not in the United States.

After deliberating for most of the day Thursday, jurors in federal court found Atiyeh guilty on all 15 counts, including conspiracy, money laundering, running an illegal gambling business and accepting bets. On the illegal gambling count, jurors did not agree that the business engaged in bookmaking, or that it occupied a building to receive or record bets, but decided it was an illegal gambling business because it became "a custodian of funds" used for gambling.

"This case is significant because it involved an individual who tried to avoid criminal liability by putting some of his operations offshore," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Mansfield, who prosecuted the case.

Atiyeh said he planned to appeal the convictions on the advice of his lawyer, Thomas A. Bergstrom of Malvern. He reiterated his belief that prosecutors pursued him because they lost the cases against his brothers.

Atiyeh, a football and wrestling standout in Allentown and at Louisiana State University, had a brief stint with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1980. He also spent three seasons with various teams in the now-defunct United States Football League, he said.

Dennis and Joseph Atiyeh were both cleared of all charges in March 2001 -- one by a judge and one by a jury. George Atiyeh was indicted for his separate gambling business in December, five years after he closed the business.

Atiyeh faces a maximum sentence of 20 years on each of several money-laundering counts, but would more likely face a two-to-four-year term under federal sentencing guidelines, Mansfield said.