22 Jan
A Twitter war broke out this week after Nicholas Palma was accused of cheating backers out of winnings, resulting in a wild goose chase prank designed to embarrass the serially-accused scammer…
The public humiliation arose after Chicago pro Ralph Massey posted a series of tweets, initially asking fans and followers to vote on whether he should out a ‘well-known scammer/thief’…
The resounding ‘yes’ led to him naming Nicky Palma, a pro with previous for allegedly scamming backers out of money and much more serious accusations.
As we reported in 2018, Palma was accused of by fellow pro Tim Reilly of failing to pay back money owed from his staking deal.
Matters took a turn for the worse for Palma when his poker-playing ex-girlfriend Stephanie Hubbard accused him of sexual assault, battery and theft.
Palma publicly refuted the allegations, Reilly at least happy when Palma started to pay back his debts.
The previous year had seen Palma and Ralph Massey’s brother Aaron reportedly involved in a fist-fight at Foxwoods casino.
Strangely enough, the brawl was said to be over Palma’s apparent distaste at Aaron Massey not revealing Zohair Karim’s dubious past of scamming. Both men were said to have been kicked out of the casino and given 24-hour bans.
In this latest Palma incident, the New York pro posted, then apparently deleted, a number of offensive replies to Ralph Massey, although they were preserved for posterity by Massey…
In retaliation, Massey thought up a scheme to get back at Palma, tweeting:
‘I had a great idea to have a random friend of ours that Palma doesn’t know text him to buy action then send Nicky to a random house on a wild goose chase looking for a phantom buy in.’
That resulted in Palma almost but not quite missing out on the day’s play at the Seminole HardRock Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida…
…though Palma’s version of events was again somewhat different…
This is the second backing scandal of the week after Australian pro James Hopkins was accused of failing to pay back A$400,000 in loans and interest for a backing deal gone wrong.
Aidan Hildebrandt and other family members are suing Hopkins for reneging on his payments, the $1million-winning online pro stating that because he is a problem gambler with ADHD and depression he should not be held accountable for his actions.
