Somehow, the Robbi Jade Lew-Garrett Adelstein scandal diving the poker world just got weirder.
An internal investigation conducted by Hustler Casino Live — which streamed the game from Los Angeles — has shown that one of their High Stakes Poker Productions employees stole three $5,000 chips from Lew’s stack after the broadcast concluded on Sept. 29.
The employee, Bryan Sagbigsal, was terminated from his position after he admitted to taking $15,000 in chips from Lew’s stack, HCL’s owners Nick Vertucci and Ryan Feldman said in review findings. It’s unclear what job Sagbigsal held with HCL.
The findings add to a saga that been going on for a week. It started with a $269,000 hand that ended with Lew calling Adelstein with just Jack high. Adelstein, who had the seven and eight of clubs, flopped straight and flush draws but didn’t improve on the turn or river. Lew’s call was bizarre, though, considering the small number of hands she could have beaten.
In a lengthy statement on Twitter last week, Adelstein accused Lew of cheating during the game. Lew gave back the $135,000 to Adelstein after he initially made the accusations at the casino. Adelstein is one of the top streaming players in the world, while Lew is newer to the game and particularly stakes of this size.
Lew said in a tweet that Adelstein “cornered [her] and threatened [her],” after she was “pulled out of the game and forced to speak to him in a dark hallway.”
The $15,000 worth of chips taken by Sagbigsal was seen as some as him taking his cut of a cheating scam.
In a separate statement on Thursday, Lew told PokerNews.com, that Vertucci called her to share the news of the incident and HCL’s investigation.
Lew said she chose not to press charges against Sagbigsal because she believes it is “unnecessary to damage a young man’s life,” adding that she “could not recall having met the employee.”
Lew said she was notified that the employee “had already spent the $15k, at which point moving forward with a criminal charge made even less sense to me.”
Gardena police said, without a victim, they do not intend to pursue a criminal prosecution at this time, per the HCL statement.
