WPT Champ Dwyte Pilgrim Accused Of Defrauding Aaron Massey

Poker pros and former friends, Aaron Massey and Dwyte Pilgrim (photo) are currently embroiled in an ugly public spate over an unpaid $7,500 debt. Massey apparently lent Pilgrim the money back in January 2013 while the two players were staying at the Borgata a day before the WPT Main Event was due to get underway.
Prior to the incident, Massey and Pilgrim were regulars on the live tournament circuit, and according to Massey “were at almost every stop together”. On that particular day, however, Massey said he received a text from Pilgrim stating that he wanted to discuss something very serious. Elaborating further, Massey said Pilgrim told him that an issue with his bank had resulted in his account being frozen for 40 days, and that he needed $7,500 to pay for his WPT Main Event entry fee, as well as cover some additional costs.
Massey said he was skeptical at the time, especially as Pilgrim was unable to provide proof of his claim, but eventually gave in to his pleas and request. Recalling the event, Massey explains:
“I was weary, and I said to him, verbatim, ‘If this story isn’t true, and I lend you money based on a lie, and I don’t get paid back then it is the same as stealing.’ He agreed, got defensive, and once again mentioned our friendship as reason why he would never lie or steal from me.”
Forty days later, Pilgrim was still unable to repay Massey the money he owed him, and Massey said he even resorted to buying Pilgrim in to a few low buy-in events in the off-chance he would win and be able to repay his debt. Nevertheless, Pilgrim’s poker results have been anything but stellar since 2013, and despite winning $2,140,072 throughout his career, including the 2010 WPT Borgata Poker Open for $733,802, he has cashed for just $51,740 since the beginning of 2013.
Nevertheless, Aaron Massey does not appear to be the only player owed money by Dwyte Pilgrim, and apparently Brian Hastings, too, failed to collect after staking him in a few tournaments but never being repaid after a winning performance. Another player, Nathan Burdette, also professes to have lent Pilgrim $3,000, money he was never to see again. As for Dwyte Pilgrim, talking to pokernews he alluded to an unspecified life changing event that meant he was unable to repay his “arrangements”. As an extract of his statement then explains:
“I’m sorry my mishaps hurt anyone, but it wasn’t done with malicious intent.. At the end of the day we all take hits, but it’s how you bounce back. Real homies ain’t hating, and hating homies ain’t real.. When you’re at the top, no one knows who their friends are. When you’re down, you know whom your friends. See you at the top.”