RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Nearly $3 million transferred from golfer Phil Mickelson to an intermediary was part of “an illegal gambling operation which accepted and placed bets on sporting events,” according to two sources and court documents obtained by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
Mickelson, a five-time major winner, has not been charged with a crime and is not under federal investigation. But a 56-year-old former sports gambling handicapper, acting as a conduit for an offshore gambling operation, pleaded guilty last week to laundering approximately $2.75 million that two sources told ESPN belonged to Mickelson.
Gregory Silveira, of La Quinta, Calif., pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering of funds from an unnamed “gambling client” between February 2010 and February 2013.
Mickelson was not named in court documents, but according to ESPN, sources familiar with the case indicated Mickelson is the “gambling client.”
Last year, Mickelson made off-the-course news when his name surfaced in an ongoing federal insider trading investigation.
