Gold99 | Benjamin “Unlimited Funds Ben” Lee and “Wes the Maverick” Wesley Fei, two controversial personalities within the poker community, have openly acknowledged their tumultuous history. Nevertheless, they’ve chosen to unite their efforts in unearthing an individual they allege has coerced both of them. Lee elaborated on this in a detailed blog post of his own.
Gold99 | Poker Players Uncover Scandal
In August, a mysterious figure leveled allegations against Wesley through a WordPress blog post, asserting that the poker player had duped them out of $250,000 in a cryptocurrency venture during early 2022.
This unnamed individual subsequently reached out to Lee via Instagram, disclosing the purported crypto fraud. Lee, a staunch advocate for justice with a deep-seated resentment for the alleged perpetrator, as outlined in his blog post, decided to engage with the apparent victim to unravel the intricacies.
As their discussions progressed, the enigmatic informant revealed their intention to publicly unveil Wesley’s transgressions and their need for financial support to accomplish this mission. Initially, Lee declined the request. However, months later, a twist occurred when the anonymous claimant informed Lee that Wesley had somehow become aware of the exposé project. Wesley then offered the individual, who accused him of a scam, $35,000 to expose Lee as the supposed “architect of this character assassination campaign.”
Fearing potential damage to his reputation, Lee decided to contribute funds to the project aimed at exposing Wesley, even though he knew he was now entangled in a rivalry with his Hustler Casino Live adversary.
The initial contribution took the form of a $1,000 wire transfer. It was during this transaction that Lee learned the identity of the person he had been conversing with: Russell Thamer, a London-based recruiter for a financial company.
In the anonymous blog post, the author accused Wesley of sending “henchmen” to break into their home and purportedly confessed to it after the alleged incident occurred. In response, Wesley issued a tweet denying these allegations and implied that Lee might be the one behind the accusations. Around the same time, Lee made another wire transfer, this time for $1,500, to further fund the exposé project.
Simultaneously, Thamer informed Lee that he had been approached by an individual claiming to possess evidence of immigration fraud committed by Wesley, a Chinese national, in the United States. This person requested £80,000 for the evidence. Thamer sought this amount from Lee, but the request was declined. Later, he returned with news of a reduced sum for the evidence, which Lee also declined to pay.
The Tide Turns
In the aftermath of the anonymous blog post’s release, Thamer claimed to be receiving threatening voicemails and experiencing signs of being shadowed, potentially by individuals hired by Wesley. These threats deeply concerned Lee, prompting him to take measures for his own safety. He enlisted the services of security personnel to monitor his residence in Los Angeles. Subsequently, he transferred an additional £22,500 in cryptocurrency in an attempt to obtain the alleged evidence of immigration fraud, intending to bring Wesley to justice for the purported crimes.
However, mere hours later, another request for additional funds emerged, and the subsequent day brought the revelation that the promised documents did not actually exist. This discovery led Lee to contact Ryan Feldman, co-owner of Hustler Casino Live, to address the situation and arrange a meeting with Wesley.
On the following day, Lee and the poker player with whom he had been embroiled in a long-standing dispute met to compare their respective pieces of evidence, including text messages and voice recordings. It was during this meeting that both parties realized they had been deceived and manipulated by an individual who had seemingly exploited their mutual animosity.
In September, Wesley shared a WhatsApp conversation with PokerNews involving the then-anonymous individual, which is presented below. The exchange clearly illustrates the attempted scheme to pit the poker players against each other for financial gain.
Both Lee and Wesley have presented evidence showcasing Thamer’s ongoing attempts at extortion and blackmail, even after his fraudulent activities were unveiled.
“He played on my emotions and made me believe that he had lost his entire life savings due to Wesley’s cryptocurrency scam,” Lee conveyed to PokerNews. “Furthermore, he convinced me that his personal safety was in jeopardy. It was under these circumstances that I sent him £30,000.”
Wesley elaborated that, in light of their shared experiences of being extorted and manipulated against each other, they have since developed a friendship.
