Damien LeFaubes, a professional poker player who has played at Resorts World and several other Las Vegas casinos, agreed to a federal plea deal Monday on charges of money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross profit or loss from the violations.
According to the plea agreement, LeForbes gambled $148 million at Casino A between January 2022 and Dec. 15, 2023.
It's unclear whether Casino A is Resorts World. In May, The Current reported that LeForbes lost $12.3 million at Resorts World over nearly 40 trips there.
Earlier this month, the Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a complaint against Resorts World for allowing illegal gambler Matt Bowyer and other gamblers to gamble despite having no reliable source of funding. Among the four gamblers named in the GCB's complaint is Patron A, an “anonymous individual suspected of being an illegal gambler.”
According to the GCB complaint, Patron A, who told Resorts World hosts he was a bookmaker, lost $10 million at Resorts World between September 2022 and December 2023, gambling over 150 days during that period.
“In several cases, the defendants recruited casino hosts as agents for the LeForbes gambling operation,” the federal plea agreement states. “This included at least two hosts at Casino A who introduced at least two new potential gamblers to LeForbes.”
From Oct. 1, 2021, through Dec. 22, 2023, “defendants issued at least 17 personal or teller checks to Casino A totaling at least $9.105 million from bank accounts used to operate the illegal gambling ring.” LeForbes also made cash payments of at least $2.8 million to Casino A.
LeForbes placed bets with Casino A chips, and at one point texted another illegal bookmaker saying, “[Casino A]is the most important to me because the chips are very versatile.”
According to the plea agreement, LeForbes also used a cryptocurrency wallet to receive and make payments from bettors and instructed them on how to avoid detection.
“I only send like $100k at a time to different addresses,” he told a concerned bettor via text. “You can create a different address for your wallet each time, just don't send to exchanges. Wallets are fine… but remember a new address. Exchanges are a no-no. I send and receive millions of dollars every week.”
The government seized millions of dollars from LeForbes' California home in a December 2023 raid, but agreed not to seek the forfeiture of $249,000 in cash and 5,000 Chainlink digital currency coins, worth $11.32 each as of Wednesday.
According to casino records obtained by the Current, Resorts World turned over $2.5 million in bad checks from LeForbes to the Clark County District Attorney earlier this year for prosecution, but no charges have been filed against the gamblers.
Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff declined to comment, and District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not respond to a request for comment.
LeFaubes also owes the Venetian $1 million, a debt that has also been sent to the district attorney but no lawsuit has been filed, according to casino officials.
The Current first reported on the California federal investigation into money laundering at Las Vegas casinos last year.
Scott Civella, the former president of Resorts World who was fired weeks after the scandal was discovered, has struck a plea deal with federal authorities to plead guilty to allowing illegal gambler Wayne Nicks to pay more than $100,000 in cash to MGM Grand to settle gambling debts without filing suspicious activity reports as required by federal law.
The MGM Grand and Cosmopolitan subsequently entered into non-prosecution agreements with the government and paid $7.45 million in fines. Resorts World has not been federally charged with wrongdoing.
