Poker Pro w/ $3.3M in Tournament Cashes Gets Six Years in Prison for Drug Smuggling
Salman Behbehani, a poker player with millions in cashes, was convicted earlier this week on drug smuggling related charges and sentenced to spend six years in prison.
The Balearic Provincial Court also imposed a €30,000 fine on the California poker player who comes from one of the richest families in Kuwait, according to Forbes. Behbehani, 37, was arrested on July 16, 2021 at the Ibiza airport upon flying a private jet carrying around 30 people to the Spanish island from Las Vegas.
Poker Player's Crime
Officers from the Tax Agency and Guardia Civil Border Patrol, who met the poker pro at the airport, used scanners to detect a suitcase full of drugs and a significant amount of cash. Investigators found in his suitcase 315 grams of cocaine, 715 grams of Tusi, 705 grams of hashish, 80 grams of MDMA, and some cannabis and LSD.
Behbehani, who has $3.3 million in live tournament cashes per The Hendon Mob, was convicted of being in possession of a large quantity of substances. He initially faced up to nine years in prison, but the court settled at six years.
The Public Prosecutor's Office began its drug-smuggling trial in late February. Behbehani, a known DJ, testified on his own behalf but it was inevitably determined by the court he committed a crime that will land him in prison for quite some time. He can still appeal the conviction with the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands. A local television outlet captured the poker pro's recent arrival at court.
Behbehani has 10 World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes and a number of large scores, including a career-best $818,799 prize for taking second place in the 2011 Partouche Poker Tour (PPT) Main Event, a tournament won by Sam Trickett. He hasn't recorded any live tournament cashes since August 2018, although he did reach the money in the WSOP Online Main Event on GGPoker in 2020.
High-Stakes Poker Player Busted For Drug Possession at Ibiza Airport
