PGA Tour superstar Phil Mickelson has been implicated in an “illegal gambling operation which accepted and placed bets on sporting events,” reports ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
Last week, prosecutors struck a plea deal with Gregory Silveira, a 56-year-old former bookie. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Silveira plead guilty to three counts of money laundering for an “unnamed client,” whom sources have told OTL is none other than the left-handed, 5-time Major champ.
Mickelson has not been charged with a crime and is not currently under federal investigation, but the OTL’s sources claim Silveira laundered around $2.75 million for Mickelson between 2010 and 2013.
This isn’t Mickelson’s first link to sports-gambling. Back in 2001, “he was reprimanded by the PGA Tour after winning $500 from Mike Weir in the players’ lounge at the NEC Invitational: Mickelson had wagered $20 at 25-1 odds that Jim Furyk would hole a bunker shot.”
Furthermore, Mickelson — along with Carl Icahn and Billy Walters — was linked to an insider trading scandal back in 2014, but was eventually cleared of the charges.
[h/t: ESPN]