Two-time World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring winner, Travell Thomas, has pleaded guilty to his role in a debt collection scam that extracted $31m from his victims in a five-year period between 2010-15.

In a period of five years between 2010 & 2015, Buffalo resident, Travell Thomas, won two World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) gold rings, earned over half a million in live tournament earnings, and conned victims to part with $31m in his role as the leader of a debt collection scam.

Thomas, who was arrested in Nov 2015, pleaded guilty in front of a packed Manhattan law court on Tuesday where he repeatedly broke down in tears.

“I knew what I was doing was wrong and violating the law,” he told U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla during the case.