WSOP nice-guy getting home seized?
This just in … a few hours ago police in San Antonio raided the home of Richard Lee — 6th place finisher in the WSOP.
Click here to see the TV news report.
Police reportedly were executing a warrant that allowed them to seize everything inside his estate in the tony Shavano Park neighborhood … because cops claim possessions inside may all be ill-gotten gains. According to a police spokesman, this was not a raid to arrest Lee, but it was part of an investigation into a “major” online gambling ring.
Wow wow wow.
Of all the final tableists, Richard Lee was arguably the nicest guy there. The anti-Jamie Gold. After he busted out in 6th place (winning $2.8 million), I asked him:
You’re the only one at the final table not wearing anything from an online poker site. Why is that?
His answer:
“I don’t need the money, I have plenty of money, and I decided that I wasn’t going to endorse anyone but God, my family, and San Antonio, Texas.”
Yee-haw! I screamed on the inside. I looked over at Nolan Dalla, because he knew what I was getting at with my question, and being a Texan, he, too, likely felt the internal whoop.
Anyhow, it was an impressive statement by Lee. Supposedly the going rate to wear an online poker site’s gear at the main event final table was $500k. (As opposed to $50k at other televised final tables.) But if what police are suspecting is true, then huh … wonder if there wasn’t some other reason he didn’t want to attach his name to any semblance of an online gaming site.
(Mean Gene can add another one to his entertaining POKER: CSI line-up.)
UPDATE: Here’s the San Antonio Express-News on the investigation.
Woody says:
August 30th, 2006 at 10:06am
I couldn’t get the link to work.
Try this one.
http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/?videoId=292989,292859,565
Meat says:
August 30th, 2006 at 11:03am
An important distinction, I think, is that this doesn’t seem to be the house in which he lives. Although, if the investigation is going as swimmingly well as they indicate, his personal effects (even those where he lives) will be in jeapordy very soon.
This is pretty close to home for me. I was unsure where D.A. Susan Reed, et al., stood on this issue. I guess this is our answer. Meanwhile, the hoods are tagging every blank wall in my neighborhood and teens are getting robbed (via stun gun) at the mall (see http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/stories/MYSA082206.stungunrobbery.en.26309b55.html). Whatever…we all know the victimless crime rant. The news folks are doing a pretty good job making it sound like he’s a crack dealer, though.
For Richard’s sake, I hope he has a very conservative CPA who insisted that he report everything, lest he go the way of Capone and virtually everyone else who gets caught making money illegally.
DanM says:
August 30th, 2006 at 12:07pm
NOTE: I’ve updated the link above to something that works. Try clicking again.
Intan says:
August 30th, 2006 at 6:47pm
I am not sure this should be categorized with the war on poker. This guy was a bookie.