An expert poker participant with a violent legal historical past is now being accused of scamming poker gamers from Las Vegas to Florida.
Lenard Adams, aka “Fortunate” within the poker world and the “Sweetheart Swindler” to police, was charged in 2017 with rape, fraud, intimidation, kidnapping, and theft in Indiana, in keeping with CBS Chicago. He was alleged to have instructed girls he was a neurosurgeon trying to purchase youngsters presents for charity. Investigators on the time mentioned he used the charitable guise to swindle his victims out of almost $70,000 price of money and jewellery.
Though most fees have been dropped, in 2019 he was sentenced to 4 consecutive 18-month sentences, with three years in a work-release program. The choose additionally ordered him to put in writing apology letters and pay $14,127 in restitution to 3 of his 4 victims
“Fortunate” appeared on Hustler On line casino Dwell in October 2021 and competed towards a desk that included Phil Ivey and Garrett Adelstein. He was subsequently banned from the present after his legal previous turned obvious.
Alleged Rip-off in South Florida
Since his livestream look, a number of poker gamers have claimed to have been scammed by Adams. PokerNews was contacted by a participant who claims to have been scammed just lately by Adams and needs to talk out to stop future fraud victims.
Kevin (not his actual identify) is a younger poker participant, very similar to many of the alleged victims, who claims to have met Adams at Seminole Exhausting Rock Resort and On line casino in Hollywood, Florida on Friday, Jan. 10.
“(Adams) promised that if I took a large flip he would stake me in a personal recreation,” Kevin mentioned of his current and first encounter with Adams. “I consider he confirmed me a pretend cash order from Exhausting Rock, which mentioned he had $2 million credit score there. As soon as we did the flip and I paid him, he began pressuring me asking for more cash. I began to appreciate that there was no recreation.”
“As soon as we did the flip and I paid him, he began pressuring me asking for more cash. I began to appreciate that there was no recreation.”
Kevin then claims he left the on line casino and went dwelling “out most of my poker bankroll.” He acknowledged that “it ought to have been apparent” it was a rip-off. However, as he defined, he’d seen “Fortunate” on poker livestreams taking part in huge video games, so he believed that Adams had the cash to again him in a personal recreation.
He was by no means put in a personal recreation and hasn’t heard from Adams since. Not solely did the alleged rip-off value him financially, nevertheless it’s additionally induced him to lose curiosity in poker.
“My plan is to by no means play poker once more. I suppose I am simply not reduce out for this world. I am a school pupil and have a fantastic job lined up. I do not want it in my life anymore,” Kevin mentioned.
Kevin does not wish to proceed taking part in poker, however he mentioned his cause for talking concerning the incident with PokerNews was to do his half to stop others from getting scammed.
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Comparable Incident in Las Vegas
This isn’t the primary allegation towards Adams from a poker participant.
In Could 2023, a participant named “dcdan” shared the same incident on the Poker Fraud Alert discussion board that he “was the current sufferer of a rip-off dedicated by Lenard Adams for 7k money.
“dcdan” alleged that he had met Adams at ARIA in Las Vegas and Adams had organized to stake him in a high-stakes personal recreation the following evening. Earlier than that might occur, “dcdan” lent Adams $7,000 within the on line casino pits and by no means noticed him once more.
“He requested me for 7k and I obliged,” the participant wrote. “It occurred so fast however quickly sufficient it was gone, he ran off. My quantity and Instagram have been instantly blocked.”
CBS Chicago reported that Adams instructed the choose he was an expert poker participant. He has $155,055 in Hendon Mob earnings, together with a career-best rating of $ 30,534 from a fourth-place end in a $1,100 Turbo occasion on the 2023 Wynn Summer time Basic.
In August 2024, Adams received two occasions on the Seminole Exhausting Rock Poker Open for respective scores of $16,770 and $9,610.
*Picture courtesy Seminole Exhausting Rock Hollywood & Hobart Police Division
Connor Richards
Editor & Dwell Reporter U.S.
