In an interview with WHEC-TV’s Berkeley Brean in Rochester, N.Y., lawyer Jim Wolford, who represents Mark Ruff, said the $230,000 “check that was identified as far as the money laundering was a New York Islander check.”
That check, apparently endorsed over to the men, was to pay off a gambling debt, Ruff admitted in court.
Asked what he was implying by saying the check was a New York Islander check, Wolford told WHEC-TV, “Thomas Vanek was here [in federal court], what, a couple months ago? I think at the last hearing he was playing for the Islanders.”
When asked if he was inferring the check came from Vanek, Wolford said, “It came from the Islanders. … Put it this way, I was a little surprised when I heard on the news that Mr. Vanek was claiming complete innocence with respect to this entire operation.”
Bartlett was incensed by the lawyer’s comments.
“If you read it quickly or you listen to his comments, it almost alludes to the fact that Thomas vanek was involved in money laundering, which is totally false,” Bartlett told the Star Tribune. “He is not the subject of any investigation or criminal charges or anything whatsoever. He was a witness against this guy who was the bookmaker. He was the guy that wanted money and Thomas paid it to him. Thomas wasn’t involved in any bookmaking activities.
“Now people are like, ‘Oh, Thomas was a money launderer. That’s totally false. He was the bettor. He bet on football games. Obviously that’s what he was testifying to. It doesn’t take Einstein to figure that out.”
