ShareThe Hustler Casino Live scandal is showing no signs of abating. After a week of investigations and half of the poker community at each other’s throats on Twitter, opinion is still divided on what really happened that night.
But that might all change over the next couple of days because news has come in that an employee of Hustler Casino Live was caught on camera helping himself to $15,000 from Robbi Jade Lew’s chip stack after that infamous hand. Here’s what we know.
Caught on Camera
On Thursday evening, LA time, the Hustler Casino Live team shocked poker Twitter by posting a statement detailing how its investigation was taking shape and informing us that Bryan Sagbigsal, an employee who worked in the back room of the live stream where all the tech is situated, had stolen three $5,000 chips from Robbi Lew after the show ended.His employment was terminated immediately and Gardena Police Department was contacted to make a report.
As promised, the Hustler team appears to have left no stone unturned in its efforts to carry out a comprehensive and detailed investigation.
Bulletproof - Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), a leading provider of testing and certification of gaming systems, has been retained to independently audit all Hustler Casino Live tech and protocols.
Law firm Sheppard Mullin has also been retained to provide guidance. Absolutely necessary given the number of threats of legal action we have seen already.
Incredibly, Lew decided not to pursue criminal charges against Sagbigsal, shocking many who have followed this story over the last week.
Hustler Casino Live later tweeted an update.
“We were shocked and disappointed to learn during our investigation that one of our employees took chips from Robbi’s stack. When we found out what happened, we took immediate action and disclosed that action publicly. In good faith, we are offering to reimburse the stolen funds to Robbi. We are taking steps to prevent this from happening again. Nick Vertucci and Ryan Feldman High Stakes Poker Productions”
Digging a Deeper Hole?
There’s a saying: when you’re in a hole it’s best to stop digging. That seems to be where Robbi Lew is heading after she posted a message she claims was sent to her by Bryan Sagbigsal.Immediately, there were cries of fabrication but there is no hard evidence of this, only some examples of the writing of Lew and Sagbigsal..
Obviously an ellipsis is common in written English but some writers when posting online use them a lot more than others.
All of this information has naturally turned the spotlight onto Bryan Sagbigsal. Who is he?
He was employed as an audio technician by Hustler Casino Live and has repeatedly tweeted, on his now deleted Twitter account, "nobody in production is in collusion with ANY of the players."
It also came to light that he was convicted of a robbery in 2017 when 18-years-old and later escaped from prison. He also faced battery charges in 2018.
Robbi Jade Lew Responds
PokerNews reached out to Robbi Lew for a detailed version of events as she saw them."I received a call from Nick Vertucci earlier this afternoon, stating that an ancillary incident had been uncovered upon their extensive/ongoing investigation of Thursday night’s event. This incident involved one of their employees who was found to have discreetly removed and stolen three $5k brown chips from my chip stack post-stream. I asked Nick to disclose his name, at which point I could not recall having met the employee. Upon speaking to the detective, I asked for further clarity/information that helped me reach my decision not to press charges — the employee's age/financial hardship and the employee's history of prior offenses. Upon learning that the employee was relatively young, with minimal funds, and no history of prior offenses, I came to the conclusion that pressing charges was unnecessary to damage a young man’s life that would already be negatively impacted by the news of his wrongdoing and termination of his employment. I was further notified that the employee had already spent the $15k, at which point moving forward with a criminal charge made even less sense to me. I want to extend my appreciation to High Stakes Poker Productions / Hustler Casino Live for conducting such a thorough and expeditious investigation that resulted in the discovery of this incident.”
Lew then claimed that she was told by the police department that Sagbigsal had no prior convictions which we now know to be untrue.
It has been insinuated that Robbi Lew used this point as part of her reasoning for not pressing charges without checking its veracity. This has raised suspicions dramatically that we are not being told the whole truth.
Yet More Investigation
With all of this new information in mind, there are now calls for further investigation. Former high stakes player Melissa Burr pointed out that if Sagbigsal is guilty of being involved in a cheating ring then this probably isn’t the first time an offence has been committed.Only recently, he was a part of conversations regarding the current cheating scandal in the chess world. Grandmaster Hans Niemann has been accused of receiving outside assistance during games to which Sagbigsal posted questions about how this can be done. Yet more suspicion on what has probably become a top five story in the poker world in the last few decades.
Melissa Burr wrote: “All that proves is that he was looking to diversify his skillset. If we are going to investigate this thing, let's make sure we leave no stone unturned at this point. There are many players potentially affected by this if this wasn't his first foray into shenanigans.”
As part of further investigations, Robbi Lew says she will submit to a polygraph lie detector test. Eric Persson, who was at the table when THAT hand took place, offered to get everything set up in order to prove her innocence.
Not everybody was convinced this is a good idea, though. A false positive would certainly not help Lew’s case here.
Bill Perkins Wants Answers
After more than a week of investigation and no consensus it’s understandable that people are getting frustrated. Bill Perkins is getting so impatient that he has even offered a nice reward for anybody that can prove how any scam was pulled off.He made an open offer of $15,000 but this was quickly raised when Haralabos Voulgris said he’d throw $100,000 into the pot if Perkins matched it.
Perkins immediately accepted the challenge.
Garrett Adelstein Donates the $135K to Charity
While all this was going on, some readers might not have heard that Garrett Adelstein decided to go ahead and donate the $135K he took back from Robbi Lew to charity.Adelstein must have known that taking this step while investigations are still ongoing would be a clear signal that he will not have his mind swayed on the matter.
Not everyone was of the opinion that this was the best course of action given that the donation could be made in the near future.
Todd Witteles wrote: “When you take someone's money which doesn't rightfully belong to you, donating it to charity doesn't make you a good person. Either give it back, or have it held in escrow pending some sort of reasonable condition for return.”
Patrick Leonard said that Adelstein must have inside information to have take this course of action.
“wow this is a huge development. GA donates the full $135k to charity before the investigation is completed meaning he must think he has some extra inside information? to donate this pre investigation you have to be 100% sure right?”
Check out the video below for an interview with Robbi Lew conducted by Chad Holloway where she says she “absolutely, unequivocally did not cheat.”
In case you missed anything from this story over the last week, check out our coverage so far in the links below:
Garrett Adelstein Storms Off Hustler Casino Live Amid Suspicious Play
Doug Polk Says it’s 90% Likely Robbi Lew Cheated on Hustler Casino Live
Poker Community Still Divided Over Hustler Casino Live Cheating Allegations
Hustler Casino Live Cheating Scandal Takes Bizarre Twist as Employee Steals $15k from Robbie Lew
