Thursday, December 18, 2008

Anuram Dikshit Smiles While Paying $300 Million Fine: 3 Stories from Wednesday's NY Post

Anuram Dikshit is not "feeing the pinch" of the global recession, according to these stories from Wednesday's NY Post:


Web-poker programmer folds on $300M hand


A billionaire computer expert sported a bizarre grin as he pleaded guilty yesterday to running an illegal online gambling parlor - and agreed to forfeit $300 million he raked in from American bettors.


Maybe he was pleased with the Manhattan federal judge's unusual decision to postpone his sentencing for two years based on his cooperation.


The move allows Indian computer whiz Anurag Dikshit - who's No. 743 on this year's Forbes' billionaires list - to return to his home in Gibraltar, free on $50 million bond.


Dikshit told Judge Jed Rakoff he developed software and directed operations for Gibraltar-based PartyGaming PLC between 1998 and 2006.


Are they sure the judge's name wasn't "Red Jakoff," not Jed Rakoff? Maybe that's what Mr. Dikshit was smiling about. The second article, eight pages later, is titled "Web Big Craps Out," and the Business Brief item, three pages later (second in the linked page) is titled "In Deep." Now, I know many liberals hate the NY Post, and would be quick to call these titles racist slurs against Indians, by making innuendoes about the spelling of Mr. Dikshit's last name.


Let's balance that against liberals' hatred for the "super-rich," who can smile as they pay a $300 million fine. Most Indians aren't that rich, either, and might appreciate the Post's poking fun at such a powerful person. Think of it this way: Indians have "arrived" on the world media scene, when liberal media bias against "the rich" overrides their kneejerk instinct to claim "victimhood" for an Indian billionaire. No backlash against the NY Post, yet.


Internet gambling isn't going away. Mr. Dikshit seems to be free to engage in foreign online gambling, as long as he "co-operates" with US authorities, for the next two years. Personally, it'll take me that long to stop laughing at every aspect of this story, starting with the name Anurag Dikshit. I mean, imagine if this guy was as ostentatious as Donald Trump. We'd have "Dikshit" resorts all over the world, and internet gambling promoted in all of them, outside of the US.


I can't imagine what it's like to be Anurag Dikshit, or to be fined $300 million in the middle of a global recession. He probably has a stockpile of "cheap dollars" from the summer of '08, so the impact on his finances is minimized. He's still small potatoes, compared to Brnie Madoff's (pronounced "MADE-OFF") $50 billion ponzi scheme, but that's a whole different story.


I'm still counting my change, and enduring the daily struggles of life. I hope I can be forgiven for laughing at Mr. Dikshit's name, but I don't hate him. My only real problem with him is that he violated US law, and his business is conducive to unlawful behavior in our country. If you want to legalize internet gambling, then pay off some US pols! Follow the George Soros/Rod Blagojevich model, Mr. Dikshit! You'll fit in anywhere, especially in this country...