Sweepstakes Mogul Denied Bid for New Trial on Bribery Charges

A Chicago sweepstakes company owner convicted of bribing Illinois lawmakers and lying to the FBI about it lost his appeal after the Seventh Circuit said statements he made to FBI agents were properly admitted.

James Weiss had been pulled over pursuant to a search warrant when he was questioned by federal agents for 90 minutes in October 2019 . He argued that he should have been read his Miranda rights and claimed the agents’ interrogation unduly prolonged what should have been a relatively quick search and seizure of his cell phone.

But Weiss wasn’t in custody for purposes of Miranda ...