[glimmertwin]

[ QUOTE ]
The more incriminating parts of the story sound so absurd that there's little doubt they're mostly [censored].

He probably ran into the kids without causing serious injury, paid the guy off in the heat of the moment, and when the guy realized he was rich, he decided he would take it to whatever extremes he could to get more.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd usually inclined to feel the same way that you do, but there's a bunch of stuff that makes me reluctant to dismiss it completely out of hand.

- The guy seems to be identifiable, and running a legitimate business. Legitimate businessmen don't normally publicize their scams all over the net -- particularly not where you have US celebrities -- no matter how minor, involved.

- The guy claims that it was related to a heroin smuggling plan. Again, an odd thing for a legit businessman to say.

- Phil's old roomie, Trypwire, confirms his involvement in scamming, drug dealing, etc. during his Thailand days.

- Foreign nationals tend not to get away with flying into the US to try and blackmail/extort celebrities in public places, and on their own turf -- at least not unless they've got some really juicy stuff.

My guess is that Phil did a really bad thing at some time in his past, and now it's come back to haunt him. Whether that's killing kids, smuggling dope, sexing under-age Thai ladyboys or hiring a hitman I've no idea, but I'd bet money that there's something very shady at the back of all this -- or else why not see to it that this guy got the bum's rush at the WSOP instead of scooting off with his tail behind his legs? Surely someone with Laak's clout could make that happen in Vegas during the WSOP?