The only woman charged in the NBA’s poker scandal has been accused by her former landlord of trashing her New York apartment and failing to pay $8,000 in rent, which the landlord claims eventually forced him to evict.
Sophia “Pookie” WeiThe 40-year-old is one of 31 suspects accused of orchestrating “criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games” that defrauded participants of at least $7 million, according to an Oct. 23 indictment.
Others named in the document include several members of prominent organized crime families, including the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese families, as well Portland Trail Blazers. head coach Chauncey Billups.
Authorities say these rigged games first started in 2019. and took place in various locations across the United States, including New York City, East Hampton, and New York State.
Now, Wei’s former master, Ashley Schargeshed some light on her lifestyle during that time in an interview with the New York Post, painting an unsavory picture of a woman he describes as “arrogant,” “nasty” and a “pain in the brain” who, he says, destroyed his property and failed to pay his rent.
The ex-landlord of a woman indicted in the NBA poker scandal says she “destroyed” his apartment and still owes $8,000 in unpaid rent. (Google Maps)
Sophia “Pookie” Wei, 40, on October 23. appeared in court in Brooklyn, where she pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against her. She made no comment as she left the building wearing a World Series of Poker hoodie. (LP media)
According to Scharge, Wei has lived in her Queens, N.Y., home for 10 years and stayed in the property even after she and her husband were just three months into their lease.
“She was…nasty, b—-y, what else? Arrogant,” Scharge said when asked about her former tenant, adding that while she lived at his house, she was “hanging out with a lot of mean guys.”
He noted that Wei eventually stopped paying her rent – despite glaring evidence that the lifestyle seemed very extravagant, including a Mercedes SUV and designer clothes that Scharge described as “leaving no room for the imagination”.
“She would say, ‘I don’t have one.’ [my rent].’ That was all. She owes me $8,000, but I have no idea where she lives, he claimed. – She wore a lot of expensive clothes. She was driving a Mercedes SUV. I knew something was up. She couldn’t pay the rent, but she drove a Mercedes.
Scharge said that in 2022 evicted Wei from the property in September, then discovered it had been “destroyed” during her tenancy.
After she left, he claimed he discovered she had painted a topless portrait of herself on one of the walls, left piles of “precious things” around the house and turned one of the closets into a filming room with “fancy studio lights”.
Images obtained by the Post showed the portrait in question, as well as boxes of belongings stacked in Wei’s former apartment.
Scharge said he considered hiring a private investigator to track down Wei, but decided it would be too expensive, though he had some blunt words for his former tenant.
“I hope she goes to jail,” he said. “I know I’ll never get the money back, so jail is the next best thing.”
According to property records, Scharge owns an apartment complex in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens, including a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment that recently went on the rental market for $3,000 a month.
According to landlord Ashley Scharge, Wei showed evidence of an extravagant lifestyle, telling him she couldn’t afford the rent. (Instagram/Sophia Wei)
Wei was indicted along with 30 other suspects, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
Scharge also appears to have flirted with the idea of selling the property, with records showing a 2024 deal. it was put on the market in November for $2.2 million.
A previous listing for the apartment described it as a “spacious” home that was in “excellent” condition, and the description noted its proximity to the Bay Terrace shopping center.
It is unclear where Wei moved after she was evicted by Scharge.
October 23 Wei appeared in federal court in Brooklyn after pleading not guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering before being released on $100,000 bail.
She made no comment to waiting reporters and photographers as she left the court wearing a gray hoodie with the World Series of Poker logo on the front.
She was indicted following a two-year FBI investigation that uncovered two alleged illegal gambling rings involving the NBA.
The first, Operation Royal Flush, involved poker games that authorities said involved several NBA players to give them a sense of high-end professionalism.
“Members and associates of organized crime families allegedly fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to defraud victims of millions of dollars and conspired with others to commit their fraud,” the US Attorney said. Joseph Nocella Jr. the report said.
“Well-known ex-NBA players and ex-professional athletes acted as ‘face cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims into high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of hidden technologies, including fake mixing machines and specially designed contact lenses and sunglasses to scan the backs of playing cards, ensuring that the victims and today’s victims were empowered lost last call from these scammers”.