In a world that often finds a new generation of top gamblers knowing when to hold ’em and fold ‘em, but not when to stop preening on social media and making noise in the poker room, Damien LeForbes cast a different image.
His friendliness and lack of arrogance might have helped attract customers to his lucrative foray into illegal bookmaking. Being a regular presence in poker rooms in California and Las Vegas, his business was no secret, but for a time he managed to keep a low profile.
But that’s all over now.
When California-based federal agents with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigation were probing the high-rolling world of illegal bookie Wayne Nix, a case that spilled from California into Nevada, informed sources reported LeForbes was one of six gamblers with illegal bookmaking or other criminal backgrounds who were quietly banned from the MGM Grand on the Strip.
Contacted months ago, LeForbes politely declined my interview request and referred all questions to his attorney, David Chesnoff. The veteran criminal lawyer also preferred not to discuss the matter. At the time, he said, it wasn’t clear if those banned bookies would be accused of anything more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As the criminal inquiry widened, the Nix investigation wound up netting Resorts World Las Vegas President Scott Sibella on a Bank Secrecy Act violation, after the casino industry veteran admitted he knew about the bookie’s business and failed to report it. As it has continued, the investigation has since expanded to include illegal bookie Matt Bowyer. For months, LeForbes’s name remained in the shadows of the case.
The status of Nix as a former minor-league baseball pitcher gave his investigation and circle of clients enough caché to attract media attention at a time of unprecedented acceptance of sports wagering in the country. Bowyer’s connection to former Shohei Ohtani interpreter Ippei Mizuhara turned the bookmaking story into an international headline.
Perhaps one day, we’ll learn what piece LeForbes adds to the government puzzle.
In the works for months, the plea agreement was made public only last week. LeForbes admitted to the crimes of operating an illegal gambling business (bookmaking) and conducting transactional money laundering. According to the government’s accounting, he lost approximately $12.3 million, presumably generated by his bookmaking operation, from January 2022 to mid-December 2023. Although the Las Vegas casino isn’t identified, multiple sources and press accounts have identified Resorts World as the recipient of most of LeForbes’s losses. At least one more Strip casino was happy to take his action; LeForbes owes the Venetian $1 million, according to published reports.
Contacted Wednesday, Chesnoff declined to discuss the case, except to say, “Mr. LeForbes takes full responsibility for his conduct and looks forward to a good future for him and his family.”
Interestingly, the lengthy settlement agreement also makes much of the $148 million he gambled during the time period in question. It’s a deceiving number. Anyone with a reasonable grasp of basic strategy can move a lot of money across a blackjack table without losing it all, but that total handle doesn’t equate with any real profit or loss figure.
I’m curious about what LeForbes and Bowyer were doing, blowing so much money across the tables at Resorts World in such a short time and with the feds closing in. Perhaps one day we’ll learn the answer to that too.
Although LeForbes faces the potential of a long prison sentence, don’t expect one. This investigation doesn’t appear to be about putting illegal bookies in solitary — at least not yet. The nation doesn’t want its prisons filled with bookmakers.
Still, the case is taking its toll. Several Strip casinos have been outed for being either lax in their anti-money-laundering enforcement or essentially complicit in allowing action from high rollers whose bankrolls are generated by illegal means. That makes it interesting, but not new in Las Vegas – or anywhere casinos operate.
Now, about that toll. Resorts World, MGM, and the Cosmopolitan have been named publicly, but it’s not much of a secret at this point that LeForbes owes the Venetian as well. MGM and the Cosmo signed non-prosecution agreements and Resorts World is the subject of a bruising Nevada Gaming Control Board complaint that puts its privileged license in jeopardy.
Is it really just about illegal bookmaking and “transactional” money laundering?
Is no one going to reveal the root source of the bankrolls of these bookies? Are we to presume these sports-gambling giants were their own men, masterminds savvy enough to book hundreds of millions of dollars of wagers in a few short years, but foolish enough to shovel their fortunes across the high-roller tables in a few short months?
While I’m asking questions, here’s one more. Now that they’re no longer available, who do you suppose is booking their customers’ bets now?
