Stock Fraudster Sentenced to... Play Poker?

A New Mexico stockbroker who confessed to stealing money from his clients so he could gamble has been ordered to… continue gambling. Samuel McMaster allegedly stole $400,000 from his elderly victims, but a judge has allowed him to go free, provided he can win it all back in poker tournaments.

McMaster will be allowed to travel to out-of-state poker tournaments, but must make monthly payments of at least $7,500. If he misses two payments, he’ll immediately be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. McMaster’s main defense in the case was that he was a gambling addict, which “makes this either the wisest or stupidest verdict we’ve ever heard,” says Gus Lubin of Business Insider. “Would you tell an alcoholic to drink his way out of jail?” (More Samuel McMaster stories.)