Three ex-employees of the Tropicana Hotel and Casino have been indicted for the alleged theft of information on over 20,000 of the casino’s top players. New Jersey Attorney General said the list was valued at an estimated $108 million dollars. That averages in excess of $5,000 per player on the list. New Jersey prosecutors said the list was worth the high amount because it held detailed personal data, including the names, addresses, phone numbers and specific gambling data on important casino patrons.

“We charge that these marketers stole one of the most valuable assets of the casino, namely detailed contact information and ratings for its top-level players,” said Milgram in a statement about the indictment. “This type of corporate espionage and theft involving proprietary information is a very serious crime.”

The three defendants were working at the Tropicana back in May of 2005 when they talked with each other of finding positions with different casinos. At that point, two of them decided to download the player list from the company databases as ““future leverage that would enable them to bring potential patrons with them when they sought employment at other casino”, according to Milgram’s statement.

John Conklin, 47, stayed in Atlantic City to become vice president of relationship marketing for the Borgata Hotel and Casino. Justin Litterelle, 26, left for Las Vegas to become a national marketing manager at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. A third man involved in the casino espionage scheme, James DiMarco, 59, was also charged in the same indictment.

All three men were charged with theft by unlawful taking, computer theft and conspiracy. Conklin and Litterelle were also charged with receiving stolen property, and DiMarco was charged with attempted receiving stolen property. Conklin also was charged with witness tampering, accused of having a lawyer get Litterelle to sign a false affidavit stating that Conklin had not asked him to download the player list. The most serious charges carry a fine of $150,000 and up to 10 years in state prison.