US naval admiral accused in casino chip fakery scam

A former admiral for the US Navy has been caught up in a new scandal as fresh allegations emerge that he allegedly counterfeited casino chips worth hundreds of dollars.

Rear Admiral Timothy M. Giardina was fired last year as deputy commander of US strategic command, which has responsibility for the nation’s entire nuclear weapons force, for "issues related to gambling".

New evidence has come to light that Giardina’s DNA was found on the underside of an adhesive sticker used to alter one of the three phony chips. The chips in question were altered with paint and stickers to make genuine $1 casino chips look like $500 chips.

But Giardina has repudiated these new accusations, saying he denies any involvement in the counterfeiting. He has admitted to the Associated Press however that he played the fake chips at a poker table in the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in June 2013, but insists he was unaware they were fake.

New and previously undisclosed emails have also emerged, indicating that the presence of his DNA is not conclusive evidence that he was involved in the fakery.

In a statement seen by the AP Giardina says he regrets having not immediately surrendered to security officers the four chips which he said he found in a toilet stall at the Horseshoe. He said it was an "error of judgment" that he put three of the chips in play at a poker table, and said he was sorry that he subsequently lied in saying he had purchased them from a man in the bathroom.

Giardina had been at risk of being prosecuted by the navy for counterfeiting the chips, but he was instead given a non-judicial punishment by the Navy - in this case a letter of reprimand and the loss of $4,000 in salary.

Navy officials say no court martial was sought because the available DNA evidence against Giardina might not hold up in court.