Ted Forrest Due Back In Court Next Month

On Thursday, September 8th, Ted Forrest appeared before a Las Vegas criminal court in connection with the two felony charges levelled against him of theft, and the issuing of bad checks with the intent to defraud. The complaints were brought against Ted Forrest by the Wynn Las Vegas, who accused him of passing two checks worth a combined $215,000 in October 2012, and May 2013. If found guilty, Forrest faces a possible prison sentence.
It is also worth noting that in 2015 Forrest also took out two loan from the Mirage for $40,500 and $100,000, although it is unknown whether or not these loans have been repaid.
Concerning the Wynn Las Vegas complaint, the casino is claiming that Forrest initially owed $270,000, and that he signed an agreement to pay back $10,000 per month for 10 months, in addition to a one-off payment of $170,000. In his defence, Forrest’s lawyer, Chris Rasmussen, has asserted that Wynn requested Forrest to create a marker by depositing $100 into a new bank account, and as he explains:
“They knew full well there was no money in this account, and now they’re trying to use the district attorney’s office to force him to pay a marker that was improperly issued.”
According to Rasmussen, the case should not even be dealt with in a criminal court, and instead should be treated as a “civil dispute.”
In the meantime, the case has attracted a great deal of interest from the poker community as Ted Forrest is a 6-times WSOP bracelet winner who has amassed $6,331,427 in tournament earnings since 1991. This summer, the 52 year-old even entered a number of tournaments at the WSOP in Las Vegas, including the $10k buy-in Seven Card Stud Championship which he finished in 4th place for $72,971.
In 2010, Ted Forrest also attracted a great deal of attention after a well-publicized prob bet against fellow poker pro Mike Matusow in which Forrest was expected to decrease his weight from 188lbs to under 140lbs over a 2 month period. Forrest was willing to fork out around $150,000 that he would accomplish the feat versus the $1.8 million offered by Matusow. After successfully completing the bet, however, Forrest only received $70,500 of the money.