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The US Department of Justice handed down 11 criminal indictments as part of their online poker crackdown on April 15, 2011 –henceforth to be known in the poker world as Black Friday—and one of those indicted, Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley, decided to plead guilty to those charges leveled against him.

According to the AP, Beckley appeared in the courtroom of Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis and entered his guilty plea, stating that he knowingly deceived banks in order to process transactions to and from Absolute Poker. Beckley also admitted to hiring Ira Rubin (another man indicted on Black Friday and currently awaiting trial) to process these transactions. Rubin’s attorney told the AP that his client would likely be entering a similar plea as Beckley.

By virtue of the plea deal, the 31 year-old Beckley, who was looking at up to 30 years in prison for his crimes, will likely receive just 1 – 1.5 years in prison. Although this is speculation on my part, it’s also quite likely that Beckley’s deal is contingent upon him providing information against the other men indicted on Black Friday, many of whom live abroad and have yet to be arrested and turned over to the US.

Beckley founded Absolute Poker in the early days of online poker with Scott Tom (who was also indicted on Black Friday), and the site has been one of the most scandalous in the history of online poker. Currently Absolute Poker and its sister-site UB Poker are trying to liquidate the company in order to repay their players.