CNBC's Sports Gambling Show Features a Telemarketing Scammer With Multiple Arrests

CNBC’s foray into gambling is off to a rocky start. The network will be airing a 1-hour show called, ‘Money Talks’ in September, and according to Wager Minds, CNBC got taken for a ride by a scam artist who changed his name after he was arrested multiple times. You’ve got to check out their entire takedown of Darin Notaro (aka Steve Stevens in the CNBC doc). Clearly, CNBC didn’t:

"Since we had never heard of Steve Stevens – or his company “VIP Sports Las Vegas” – we did some basic internet research. And we found some interesting things. It turns out that the domain name of Stevens’s tout operation was registered just eight months ago and it’s registered to a man named Darin Notaro. Who is Darin Notaro? Well, there’s a Darin Notaro in Las Vegas who was on probation for six federal felony counts of telemarketing fraud by wire when he was arrested for his role in a 1999 telemarketing scam that bilked elderly victims out of more than $234,000. Notaro was ordered to pay back $12,230 and sentenced to one year in jail. At the time of that arrest, Notaro was 25 years old. Two years later, at age 27, Notaro was arrested for another telemarketing scam where, again, he targeted elderly people. Oh, and Notaro, who has at least one confirmed alias of Darin Sasser, was arrested for a previous telemarketing scam at the age of 24."

"We are aware of Steve Stevens’ 1999 conviction and while we are very clear in the press release that VIP Sports clients risk big dollars in the hopes that Stevens and his agents have the expertise to consistently deliver winners, viewers should tune in on September 10th at 10pm ET/PT to draw their own conclusions about VIP Sports.  We are merely betting that viewers will be interested in the world of touts and handicappers and in no way endorse either Stevens’ picks or his business model."

You mean CNBC couldn’t comb through Vegas and find one tout or handicapper with a shred of credibility? [via Wagerminds]