by Lester Munson, ESPN
Federal prosecutors have laid out an interesting scenario involving millions of dollars that Outside the Lines is reporting came from PGA golfer Phil Mickelson and ended up being laundered as part of a sports gambling operation.
A 56-year-old former sports gambling handicapper, acting as a conduit for an offshore gambling operation, pleaded guilty last week to laundering approximately $2.75 million that two sources told Outside the Lines was Mickelson’s money.
According to court documents, in March 2010, Greg Silveira — a participant in “an illegal gambling operation which accepted and placed bets on sporting events” — accepted a wire transfer of $2.75 million, which he knew was part of “illegal sports betting.” The money, according to the documents, came from a “gambling client” and had been transferred into Silveira’s Wells Fargo Bank account. Three days later, Silveira transferred $2.475 million and then $275,000 into another of his Wells Fargo accounts. The next day, Silveira transferred the $2.475 million to another account he controlled at JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Mickelson, who was not named in court documents, is the unnamed “gambling client,” according to Outside the Lines. Outside the Lines is also reporting that Mickelson is not facing charges and is not under investigation. A reasonable person might ask just how that can be.
There are many possibilities, but chief among them is that federal gambling laws are directed at gambling enterprises and not at individual bettors.
Rest is here.
For more coverage and analysis of Billy Walters, see here.
