The PGA Tour is not going to be happy about this.
The Tour thrives on a squeaky-clean image with its sponsors and now there’s ESPN reporting that one of the tour’s most high-profile stars has alleged ties to a gambling operation.
ESPN in an Outside The Lines report, named Mickelson as a client who had $2.75 million transferred to a man named Greg Silveira and that Silveira was running an illegal gambling operation.
The ESPN report uses that often quoted “unnamed sources” to implicate Mickelson as a client whose money was used.
This is a Federal case and the report tells us that Silveira has already struck a plea deal, pleading guilty to three charges of money laundering from an “unnamed client.”
ESPN claims that Silveria mentioned Mickelson as the client in his original plea deal but then there’s the twist that an amended version of that original deal does not mention Mickelson, according to what Silveria’s attorney says. The attorney, James D. Henderson, said he “didn’t know anything about Phil Mickelson.”
Mickelson landed in some hot water last year when he was investigated for inside trading, but was not implicated.
In the gambling case, the Feds have no interest in the clients, they only want the operators.
Mickelson won’t be charged but this is a headache for the PGA Tour.
Mickelson has been known to place bets. Back in 2000, he bet $20,000 before the NFL season that the Ravens would win the Super Bowl. They ended up as the champs, beating the New York Giants 34-7 and at 22-1 preseason odds, Mickelson collected $560,000.
Perhaps PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem will place a phone call to Lefty and remind him that “gambling is illegal at Bushwood.”
