Jeremy Shockey Subpoenaed in Gambling, Drug Probe: Court Docs Reveal Death Threats, Grave Desecration
Former New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey has been subpoenaed as part of an FBI drug and gambling ring probe involving some close friends, ABC 10 in Miami revealed this weekend.
The Feds visited Shockey’s Miami penthouse back in February and, after about 20 minutes of questioning about his friend Owen Hanson, the 35-year-old kicked the agents out of his place. One week later he received the subpoena to appear before a grand jury.
Jeffrey Sloman, the Miami attorney Shockey hired to represent him in the investigation, was able to prevent his client from going before the grand jury by offering full cooperating. So far, this has yet to occur.
There's a reason the feds are interested in Shockey. He was very close with Hanson, a former walk-on football player at USC who is accused of ring-leading a massive criminal operation that dealt in large amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and Ecstasy, as well as an illegal gambling operation based in Costa Rica.
22 individuals have so far been charged, including former NFL running back Derek Loville, who was part of two winning Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos. He is charged with distributing the drugs for Hansen.
"He was friends with Owen. He wasn't in business with him," Sloman told Local 10 News. "He didn't know anything about Owen's business. Zero. There was never a trip Jeremy took to Costa Rica with the purpose to bet or inspect the gambling business [Hanson] was in. He thought it was a legal offshore gambling business. That was the extent of what he knew."
A confidential informant named in the case, however, claims that Shockey's involvement went much deeper, saying that the former NFL star “terrorized him and his wife”.
The informant relayed one visit that suggests Shockey had closer ties to the ring.
He said he met Hanson in Sydney and gave him $1.5 million cash "like it was a couple grand." He said that during a visit to Hanson's apartment, the former USC walk-on opened cabinets displaying stack after stack of cash, millions of dollars.
He said he gambled the $1.5 million on his game, blackjack, and won $300,000. He said he returned to the America, where he then lost a good deal of it in Las Vegas before winning most of it back. He said he wound up about $100,000 short of the $1.5 million and returned it in three payments, including $1 million Hanson himself at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica and the rest to two Hanson family members.
And even the dead were targeted, with one man given the gruesome task of desecrating an individual’s late parents gravestone.
(Daniel) Portley-Hanks, who has been charged with racketeering and other felony charges in the case, admitted to Local 10 News that he worked for Hanson and drove from California to Pennsylvania to pour red paint on the gravestone.
In one text intercepted by the feds, Shockey, while saying he had no knowledge of any crimes, told an individual that he believed the case against Hanson was "s--t".
The investigation is said to be ongoing.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
