Richard Lee Formally Charged In Illegal Gambling

Richard Henry Lee placed 6th in the 2006 World Series of Poker. He was formally charged Thursday, October 4, 2007 along with four other men. This came after a fourteen month investigation by San Antonio police of his illegal online gambling operation. The majority of the nearly $3 Million dollars he won during the WSOP will be forfeited by him.

It's alleged he was the behind the scenes man aka 'The Chinaman' on a supposed off-shore betting site www.betbsbnow.com which took bets and collected and paid proceeds from illegal gaming. They were ousted by a business card which was faxed to the police with a local phone number for placing sports bets. Upon investigation, the number turned out to belong to Richard Lee. This led to investigating his trash, tailing his luxury cars, bank and phone records and also an undercover sting by detectives on the website. Lee's son-in-law, Lawrence Davenport, Matthew Winslow, Marco De Carlo Hernandez and Daniel Ortiz are each being tried with gambling promotion.

With rumors still abound that Lee's players list included many well-know San Antonio figures, who are probably not too thrilled about this all coming to a head. The scheduled arraignment date for Richard Lee and his 'runners' is November 7, 2007.