Phil Mickelson's millions tied to illegal gambling case
One of the PGA's richest and most popular players, Phil Mickelson is now being tied to an illegal gambling operation. Three million dollars was transferred from the golfer to an intermediary for the operation. However, in spite of that dire-sounding news, Mickelson is currently not under investigation by the Feds, nor has he been charged with a crime. On the other hand, a former sports handicapper for gambling operations has pleaded guilty to laundering nearly three million of Mickelson's money.
The sullied handicapper is 56-year-old Gregory Silveira of La Quinta, and he pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering as part of his deal with prosecutors. His counts of money laundering were for funds from an "unnamed gambling client." The client is assumed to be Mickelson, according to ESPN's sources close to the case. Silveira will be sentenced in October and he could get up to 60 years, though a max sentence seems unlikely.
As for Mickelson, he has had no comment on the case and for the most part, why should he? It seems fairly obvious that his money was used without his permission. Beyond that, as noted in the ESPN article on the case, gambling laws are targeted at companies and enterprises, not individuals.
A detailed play-by-play said that in 2010 Silveira, who was part of an illegal gambling operation, took a wire transfer of $2.75 million. He allegedly knew this money was part of illegal sports betting and came from an unnamed gambling client. The money was transferred to Silveira's Wells Fargo bank account and then $2.475 million was transferred into another Wells Fargo account three days later. He added another $275,000 to that, before transferring the previous amount to another account, this time with JPMorgan Chase.
The three transfers in this case are part of the money laundering scheme, which said that Silveira transferred the money to continue carrying on his nefarious operation. In his documents the money is referred to as "proceeds," but this is apparently typical terminology and doesn't indicate whether it was money won or lost by Mickelson or any gambling operation. The documents also do not indicate what triggered the investigation.
In spite of his relative innocence here, this isn't the first time that Mickelson has been implicated in something of a financial nature. Last year his name also came up in an insider trading investigation being conducted by the Feds. He was eventually cleared of any suspicions, though it's also well-known that Mickelson is an avid sports bettor.
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