Investigation Finds Staffer Stole $15K in Poker Chips from Robbi Jade Lew

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Oct 06, 2022 4 min read Last updated Mar 16, 2023

The Robbi-Garrett controversy has taken yet another weird turn as the investigation into the cheating allegations discovered a staff member stole $15,000 in poker chips from Robbi Jade Lew.

According to a statement released on the Hustler Casino Live Twitter account, the culprit in question, Bryan Sagbigsal, snatched the chips away "after the broadcast had concluded and while Robbi was away from the table."

No Charges Filed

Sagbigsal, an employee of High Stakes Poker Productions, HCL's production company owned by Nick Vertucci and Ryan Feldman, won't face charges for his alleged actions. After the Gardena Police Department was contacted following the incident, Lew decided she didn't want to press charges.

"Without a victim, Gardena police told us they do not intend to pursue a criminal prosecution at this time," the Hustler statement read.

Despite being accused of cheating by her opponent on Thursday's HCL stream, Garrett Adelstein, Lew has certainly shown some generosity. Not only did she refuse to press charges against the alleged thief, she paid Adelstein back the money from the controversial hand — $135,000 — to defuse the situation.

Sagbigsal, who has held multiple roles on the production team, has been tweeting out regularly about the Robbi-Garrett saga. One day after the infamous hand, he defended the company he works for and said that he knows "for a fact" that "nobody in production is in collusion with ANY of the players."

Sagbigsal, who also has written for the Las Vegas Chronicle, has a checkered past. According to his public records, he was involved in a robbery and a prison escape in 2017, along with a battery charge from 2018, and was incarcerated at the California Department of Corrections in Sacramento. Details of the incident aren't clear, but he was only 18 years old at the time (24 now).

Robbi Jade Lew Provides Statement

PokerNews reached out to Lew for comment on why she refused to press charges. She provided us with a detailed statement.

"I received a call from Nick Vertucci earlier this afternoon, stating that an ancillary incident had been uncovered upon their extensive/ongoing investigation of Thursday night’s event," Lew said.

"This incident involved one of their employees who was found to have discreetly removed and stolen three $5k brown chips from my chip stack post-stream. I asked Nick to disclose his name, at which point I could not recall having met the employee," she continued.

"Upon speaking to the detective, I asked for further clarity/information that helped me reach my decision not to press charges — the employee's age/financial hardship and the employee's history of prior offenses."

"Upon learning that the employee was relatively young, with minimal funds, and no history of prior offenses, I came to the conclusion that pressing charges was unnecessary to damage a young man’s life that would already be negatively impacted by the news of his wrongdoing and termination of his employment. I was further notified that the employee had already spent the $15k, at which point moving forward with a criminal charge made even less sense to me.

I want to extend my appreciation to High Stakes Poker Productions / Hustler Casino Live for conducting such a thorough and expeditious investigation that resulted in the discovery of this incident."

PokerNews then asked Lew if she had known about Sagbigsal's criminal past and she said she was surprised and said "the detective said he did not" have any priors.

"I specifically asked (the detective) that. They put me on hold and came back on the phone and said no priors," she said.

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