Is Phil Ivey Broke?

Back in December, 2009, poker Pro Phil Ivey divorced his high school sweet heart and wife of seven years, Luciaetta.
Now, however, it has come to light that Luciaetta Ivey has since filed an “affidavit of implied bias or prejudice” against the then presiding Family Court Judge Bill Gonzalez, who received a $5,000 donation from Phil Ivey to his District Court Judge re-election campaign, after the divorce case.
Also alleged in the petition lodged with the state Supreme Court, is that ex-husband Phil Ivey has halted paying spousal support.
At the time of the original settlement, Phil Ivey was part owner in Tiltware, the company behind Full Tilt Poker, and as such was in receipt of lucrative payments and bonuses totalling millions of dollars.
Following their divorce, Luciaetta Ivey said she then received an undisclosed monthly alimony payments from her ex-husband between January 2010 until April of 2011, when they came to a sudden stop.
According to Phil Ivey’s lawyer David Chesnoff, the reason for the lack of payments to Luciaetta is that the marital settlement agreement “permitted Phil to cease doing so as he was no longer receiving income from one of the businesses.”
In the recent past, Phil Ivey came under heavy criticism from Tiltware, after he filed a lawsuit against them for damages in excess of $150 million. Ivey has also been slammed by members of the poker playing community for his involvement with Full Tilt Poker, not least by Tony G and Mike Matusow.
Now, Mike Matusow’s brother Scott has raised the question of Phil Ivey’s liquidity after the latest news, and wrote on his online blog:
“It appears the rumor mill might be correct, that Ivey “may be” broke. Do I feel bad? Hell no!! I do feel bad for his ex-wife, but she should have known she was possibly marrying a gambling degenerate. Rumor has it that Ivey owes at least one casino, 10 million dollars.. Perhaps Ivey should have thought twice before raising that lawsuit against FTP, in which sources tell me that action chased away an investor who allegedly had an oral deal in place with FTP.”
In addition, it is alleged Phil Ivey also owes around $6 million to Full Tilt Poker, which was loaned to him by the beleaguered company.
Whether the vitriolic Scott Matusow and his rumour of Phil Ivey’s financial situation holds any merit remains to be seen. One thing we can say for certain, though, is that the Matusow brothers hold no love for Phil Ivey.