N.Y. couple who gambled embezzled money sentenced

A New York woman and her boyfriend were sentenced yesterday in Atlantic County Superior Court for attempting to use Atlantic City casinos to launder $1 million stolen from her employer.

Jamine Alabre, 28, and her boyfriend, Mathurin Ambroise, 34, each pleaded guilty in July to receiving stolen property.

Alabre, of Westbury, N.Y., was sentenced to five years in prison. Ambroise, of St. Albans, N.Y., was sentenced to three years.

They were ordered to pay full restitution.

The couple laundered more than $500,000 from January to October 2005 at high-limit slot machines, particularly at ones in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, authorities said.

Personnel at the Borgata alerted state police to the couple's activity in May 2005. At the time, authorities said, the couple was feeding "large amounts" of currency into slots that allow wagers as high as $1,000 a spin.

Drug dealers and other criminals have been known to launder money at casino tables by exchanging illegal proceeds for chips, then losing a small amount before cashing in the chips.

In theory, the technique could be used at slots, which spit out vouchers for unused credits when a player leaves the machine.

Authorities have not described the method the couple used at the Borgata slots.

Alabre admitted she and her boyfriend were gambling with money she had embezzled from her employer, Ipsos, a marketing firm on Long Island.

Ipsos conducts marketing surveys that includes cash payments in mailings as incentives for participation. Alabre was responsible for obtaining the cash needed for those payments.

Alabre admitted inflating the amounts needed, then stealing the additional funds.