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Would you pay $2.2 million dollars for your freedom?

That’s how much poker player Richard Lee would have had to pay in order to place bail. Instead, he forfeited this as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors from San Antonio.

Why was Richard Lee arrested and detained?

Richard Lee and four other players were charged with the promotion of an illegal gambling operation. This Ocean’s Eleven type deal was allegedly being run out of the home of Richard Lee. He won’t actually do any jail time since he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges. Good thing for Richard that they gave him the plea bargain option - fighting a felony charge would be tough stuff - and if he lost that, that’s major prison time he would’ve had to serve. The others implicated in this alleged illegal gambling ring are Lee’s son-in-law, Lawrence ‘Larry’ Joseph Davenport, 30; Marco de Carlo Hernandez, 31; Matthew Colburn Winslow, 57; and Daniel Ortiz, 30.

So what’s the deal - what’s the punishment for Richard Lee?

Well, he didn’t get away with a clean break here. All the guys involved in this illegal gambling ring were hit with a fine of $2000 dollars each and $94 of court costs. Not a ton of money, but remember that Lee had his WSOP winnings seized in the raid, so he’s low on funds right now, as far as we know. Richard Lee along with his alleged co-conspirators were also hit with a sentence of 30 days of deferred adjudication.

What the heck is deferred adjudication?

It’s a plea bargain deal between a defendant and the court. The actual judgment is withhold (a.k.a “deferred”) until the end of the probation period. If you pass the probation period without any problems or arrests, then you’re good to go and the charges are dismissed. In order to get this you have to plead guilty or no contest. Just so you know, as a little CasinoSmack law tip, both of those pleas mean basically the same thing. The only difference is that “no contest” can give you a little bit of an advantage because it can protect you as a defendant against any further litigation which relates to the original crime. It’s not a finding of guilt and it’s not a conviction. Hmm.. maybe I really should get cracking on my LSAT studies for law school. Anyone need a poker lawyer?

Who is Richard Lee?

Known as “The Chinaman”, Richard Lee finished in sixth place during the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) - losing only when he brought in his pocket jacks versus the pocket queens of Jamie Gold. Richard Lee won $2.8 million dollars from the event, but the festivities didn’t last long. Only a few weeks after the WSOP 2006 the police raided his house. Detectives said that they were investigating him for months - while declaring his home to be the “nerve center of the operation”. 14 months after the raid, charges were filed on Richard Lee from the District Attorney’s Office.

Wait, the cops seized his WSOP winnings?

The raid took his money - and Richard Lee was not happy with that. His attorney’s argued in court that most of the money the police found wasn’t due to the illegal bookmaking but instead from his WSOP award. The judge didn’t buy that theory. And Richard Lee really didn’t want jail time or felony charges so he dropped that argument. Most of Lee’s personal property, like cars, jewelry, and televisions will be returned. Richard Lee’s cash will be divided between District Attorney Susan Reed’s office and the San Antonio Police Department.

“I’m just glad it’s over with. I guess I just got to get out to Las Vegas and win a poker tournament,” said a relieved Richard Lee.