According to court documents obtained by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, the U.S. Department of Justice has accepted a plea agreement with defendant Gregory Silveira, who was charged with three counts of money laundering, totaling approximately $2.75 million. So, who is this man, and why should we care? Well, if ESPN’s sources are to believed, Silveira was running an illegal gambling operation for three years, and the $2.75 million he laundered during that time allegedly belonged to Phil Mickelson.
Gregory Silveira reached an agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering of funds from an unnamed “gambling client” of his between February 2010 and February 2013. Sources familiar with the case said Mickelson, who was not named in court documents, is the unnamed “gambling client.”
According to the plea agreement, which Outside the Lines published on Monday afternoon, the money obtained by Silveira during those three years were used in an illegal gambling operation in which bets were placed and accepted on sporting events. Mickelson was not specifically named within the original plea agreement, but there was reference to a “gambling client” with the initials “P.M.,” which ESPN sources indicate are indeed Mickelson.
After ESPN began their investigation earlier this month, the Department of Justice moved to have all references to “P.M.” that were in the original agreement stricken from the record, and an amended plea agreement was then issued the following day.
It is important to note that Mickelson has not been charged with any crime, and as of this writing, he has declined comment on his alleged involvement.
[ESPN]
