Truck driver convicted in attempted casino extortion

By Mary Manning

Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 | 1:55 p.m.

A truck driver who tried to get MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment to pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for the return of confidential casino customer information has been convicted of extortion.

Following a four-day jury trial, 49-year-old Jeff Greer of Parson, Tenn., was found guilty Thursday of two counts of interference with commerce by threats or use of fear, and two counts of use of interstate facility in aid of racketeering activity, U.S. Attorney for Nevada Greg Brower said.

Greer worked as a truck driver for French Trucking Company, based in Lexington, Tenn., according to court records and evidence introduced at the trial.

In March 2007 Greer was assigned to take a load of paper refuse from Las Vegas to a Boise Cascade recycling mill in Jackson, Ala. After unloading the truck at the mill in Alabama, Greer claimed to have found that some of the papers had been left in the "scuff band" of his truck trailer.

Greer saw that the papers were documents from several casinos, including Harrah's and MGM Mirage, and that they contained sensitive information, such as customer names, casino player information and various other casino and hotel operations records.

In April 2007, Greer contacted officials at Harrah's and MGM Mirage and told them he had access to vast amounts of highly confidential customer information.

Greer told the officials that he would sell the information to casino competitors or the tabloid media, or otherwise publicly disclose it, unless they each gave him a 30-day consulting contract and paid him $250,000. Greer had said with the consulting contract he would tell the gaming properties how he got the information and how they could "fix the leak."

Greer left the impression with gaming company executives that he had infiltrated their computer systems. Greer also offered the executives, by fax and telephone, some of the information he had recovered and told them to look at an advertisement he had placed on eBay, which said he was auctioning "gaming family jewels," with a $100,000 starting bid.

When the gaming executives realized they were being extorted -- and to quickly and effectively deal with a possible compromise of confidential information -- both Harrah's and MGM Mirage contacted the FBI and asked for an investigation and assistance with the recovery of the confidential information.

Following several conversations with gaming company executives, on May 9, 2007 Harrah's executives agreed to meet Greer at the company's corporate offices in Cordova, Tenn. FBI agents, posing as Harrah's employees, accompanied the executives to the meeting, which was secretly recorded and filmed. The executives and undercover agents recovered documents from Greer and gave him a bogus check for $250,000. Greer was arrested by FBI agents as he left the meeting.

Greer was indicted in Nevada in June 2007.

The FBI, Harrah's and MGM Mirage's investigative staffs retrieved the information before Greer was able to release it. Subsequent investigation revealed that the Las Vegas recycling plant contracted by Harrah's and MGM Mirage had agreed to shred documents, but somehow failed to shred the documents loaded onto Greer's truck.

Greer is to be sentenced on Jan. 30, 2009. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of the interference of commerce threat and up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each use of interstate facility in aid of racketeering count. He has been released on bond pending sentencing.