A co-founder of online gambling site World Sports Exchange (WSEX) has been spared jail time for his role in the defunct sports betting operation.

On Monday, Haden Ware (pictured) appeared in a Manhattan federal court, where he was sentenced to six months of probation. Ware, who was indicted on multiple illegal gambling charges back in 2002, returned to US shores in January after striking a deal with prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to a single conspiracy charge.

The terms of Ware’s deal prevented him from contesting a custodial sentence of up to one year, but US District Judge William Pauley spared Ware the indignity of going to jail, saying the prosecution’s desire to see Ware wearing stripes represented a “wooden approach.”

Pauley justified his leniency by suggesting that Ware’s role in WSEX had been relatively minor compared to that of co-founders Jay Cohen and Steve Schillinger. Noting that Ware had avoided returning to the US for over a decade, Pauley said he sympathized with “the fact that this hung around your neck all these years.”