Among a busted Florida bookie’s losses: 5 condos, a McLaren — and prostitution cash
A West Palm Beach bookie will get to keep his five-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom, 4,528 sq. ft. $2 million mansion after he admitted to being a bookie, money laundering, evading taxes and collecting rent money made from prostitution.
But 53-year-old Dion De Cesare will lose six cars, including a 2021 McLaren; five residential condominiums in West Palm Beach; two pieces of West Palm Beach commercial real estate; a Rolex; and $93,207 in cash. On top of that, there’s the matter of $1,177,438 in restitution De Cesare will owe the Internal Revenue Service.
De Cesare also will lose precious time as a free man after Judge Robin Rosenberg hands down the prison sentence for his June 14 guilty pleas to tax evasion; operating an illegal gambling business; conspiracy to commit money laundering; and using a facility of interstate commerce to carry on any unlawful activity.
Through H E R E LLC, De Cesare owns 180 N. Military Tr., where Whispers All Girl Staff adult entertainment and NXT Social Members Club rented space from September 2015 through February 2020.
“Both establishments operated, at least in part, as places of prostitution,” De Cesare’s admission of facts noted with his guilty plea. “De Cesare collected money in cash derived from illegal prostitution activity as rent from each establishment. He used some of the money to pay gambling debts owed to gambling winners.”
The money also went toward being a landlord in the United States and Costa Rica: paying mortgages, bills, property taxes, etc.
He’ll have fewer of those responsibilities after losing real estate in forfeiture.
The Florida bookie’s forfeiture losses
De Cesare’s home, valued at $2,028,794 according to his guilty plea, wasn’t included among the property he’d turn over in forfeiture. But five units he owns in the Presidential Golfview Condominiums through Where LLC were included: 1900 N. Congress Avenue, Apt. 401; 1850 N. Congress Avenue, Apt. 301; 1950 N. Congress Avenue, Apt. 201; 2050 N. Congress Avenue, Apt. 205; and 2050 N. Congress Avenue, Apt. 404.
On the commercial real estate side, De Cesare’s giving up the building where Whispers was as well as 177 Manchester Ln.
His car collection also will be a bit smaller after he turns over a 2011 black Land Rover; a 2012 black Land Rover; a 2013 black Porsche Caynenne GTS SUV; 2018 black Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LR Crew Cab; a 2019 blue BMW i3; and a 2017 black McLaren 570GT, which had a retail price of $185,000, according to Kelly Blue Book.
De Cesare’s wrist will have to do without an 18-karat gold and diamond Rolex.
So, how did De Cesare get caught?
In January 2019, a confidential source told Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office detectives, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations that De Cesare was a “bookie who would take bets over the phone.”
The informant also knew De Cesare’s online gambling website, DLDSportsbook.com, was run from a server in Costa Rica, long a common base for online gambling sites before the sports betting laws relaxed in the United States.
Five months later, De Cesare was arrested at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport while getting ready to get on a flight to Costa Rica.
“De Cesare’s phone was detained and later searched and found to contained numerous text messages between him and others about his operation of an illegal gambling business and laundering of gambling proceeds,” his admission of facts said.
Along with the aforementioned agencies, IRS-Criminal Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dispoto and Trial Attorney Francesca Bartolomey are prosecuting it. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter Laserna and William T. Zloch are handling the asset forfeiture.
