Phil Mickelson has been hit with several gambling allegations after excerpts of a new book about his life came out.
The book alleges that Mickelson has gambled away millions of dollars over the years and just barely missed being arrested for insider trading.
Billy Walters, who use to be a friend of Mickelson, wrote in his new book Gambler: Secrets From a Life at Risk, said that Mickelson not only escaped the insider trading investigations that ultimately put Walters in prison but also a separate money-laundering probe that originated in the spring of 2010.
“In the spring of 2010, Mickelson asked Silveira if he would do him a favor. Mickelson wanted to transfer several million dollars to Silveira and then have Silveira wire it from his personal bank account to the offshore book to pay off Phil’s gambling losses. Unfortunately for Silveira, he said yes. The wire transfer quickly caught the attention of the criminal division of the IRS,” Walters wrote.
Walters also said that Mickelson betted as much as a billion dollars (yes you heard right) on sporting events, an allegation he denies.
Walters seems to be upset Mickelson didn’t put his reputation on the line to save him from going to jail, so that might explain these latest allegations levied against him.
“Phil’s attorneys issued a statement that made it look like Phil was an innocent victim of an insider-trading case that implicated me. And in the process, Phil was off the hook on the money-laundering case. The only person who ended up looking guilty was me,” Walters wrote.
Mickelson denies all of Walter’s allegations.
{SI.com}
