Gossip Column: Dennis Blieden Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud, Poker Player Bites Off Chunk of Opponent’s Ear!

So it’s time again for some spicy, shocking, and mind-numbing gossip from the world of poker. Remember Dennis Blieden? The 29-year old entered the upper echelons of poker stardom after winning the WPT Los Angeles Poker Classic Main Event last year. Not all good runs go the same way, and it now appears that Blieden is in for some really troublesome times ahead. Blieden, who was formerly employed by StyleHaul – a fashion, beauty and lifestyle digital media and marketing company was charged with embezzling $22 Million from the company. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Blieden with 11 counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and two forfeiture counts. Apparently, Blieden used the money he stole to fund his gambling habits. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft last week.

While Blieden is looking at spending up to 22 years in federal prison, another poker player in England, Kalem Lodge, has been handed down a five-year prison sentence. His crime? He had a fight with one of his opponents outside a pub in Hartlepool and bit a significant portion of the man’s ear off! The incident took place last year in September but has come to light only recently after the sentence hearing.

Poker Champion Dennis Blieden Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Back in July, poker pro Dennis Blieden was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly embezzling $22 Million from his former employer StyleHaul. As news of the charges broke, shockwaves went through the poker community. The 29-year old is well known in the poker circles for his blistering run in the 2018 WPT Los Angeles Poker Classic Main Event that he won for $1 Million. Blieden, who presently resides in Nevada, had worked with StyleHaul as Controller and Vice-President of Accounting and Finance. He reportedly embezzled the enormous amount of money from the company for over four years, between October 2015 and March 2019.

The U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged him with 11 counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and two forfeiture counts. Last Friday, the DOJ announced that Blieden has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Apparently, Blieden siphoned off money from the company accounts to sponsor his passion for poker and gambling alongside investments in cryptocurrency. All this while, he kept wiring money to his personal bank accounts or paying off credit card debts. He disguised the money transfers in different ways, mostly by showing them as payments to the company’s clients. He even forged a company executive`s signature that got him the aggravated identity theft charge.

According to court documents, “Blieden used the money he stole from his employer to write $1,204,000 in personal checks to poker players, $1,134,956 was used to pay off his credit cards, and $8,473,734 was transferred to Blieden’s cryptocurrency accounts.”

Not only this, but Blieden also used cryptocurrency he had purchased from his embezzled money to gamble. Blieden is looking at spending up to 22 years in federal prison, and his sentence hearing has been scheduled for March 2020.

Poker Player Bites Off Chunk of Opponent’s Ear

A fit of anger while playing poker can sometimes go very wrong, and we’ve oft heard of poker pros resort to abusive language on the table. But what transpired outside a pub in Hartlepool, England, on September 6 last year was extreme. An amateur poker player Kalem Lodge got into a heated argument with one of his opponents John Archer during a poker tournament and bit a big chunk of his ear off!

More than a year down the line, Lodge has been handed down a five-year sentence by the court.

But what had really happened on that fateful night that led Lodge to go violent? Evidently, Lodge had entered a regular poker tournament at the Mill House pub. He stepped out of the pub for a break where he ran into a friend of Archer against whom he had faced-off on the felts. The two exchanged heated words. Before long, Lodge knocked Archer’s friend to the ground. Though he apologized after a few minutes, Archer came over to check on his friend, and an argument ensued between the two. An enraged Lodge attacked Archer, and soon both players fell on the ground. Here’s when Lodge grabbed Archer’s face and sunk his teeth into the latter’s ear, shouting, “I’m Chucky, I’m Chucky!!” He was eventually pulled away by the pub employees and locals.

Archer got up and collected the bitten-off piece of his ear. “There’s my ear,” he said and walked back into the pub where the dismembered part of the ear was put in cold storage. Archer was taken to the hospital, but doctors couldn’t re-attach it back.

While the incident created quite a furor in the area, Archer seemingly look it lightly. He later wrote two letters saying he hoped to meet his attacker over a drink soon.

Lodge’s attorney Stephen Constantine, used these letters to defend his client in court, saying, “In the two letters there’s clear evidence that there have been meetings that they’ve put things behind them and moved on. The complainant clearly has a perception that the defendant is full of remorse and regret for his actions.”

Evidently, the judge presiding over the case, Alistair MacDonald, didn’t agree. Lodge, who has a criminal history, has been sentenced to spend five years in prison.