Casinos vied with one another to lure the high-stakes Bay Area gambler to their tables. They flew him to Las Vegas on private jets. They put him up free in opulent suites. And they extended him millions of dollars in credit on his signature alone. He was good for business.
Fry's fires executive is accused in kickback scheme, Siddiqui, who made $225,000 a year as a top Fry's Electronics executive, once lost $8 million in a day.
It was not Siddiqui's only debt or even his largest. Court records indicate that the 43- year-old businessman gambled away as much as $167 million at casinos over the last decade. Yet even as he amassed huge IOUs, casinos around the country continued to lend him millions more.
Siddiqui's debts ultimately caught up with him, and he now stands accused of masterminding one of California's biggest frauds. His case provides a view into the rarefied world of big-time gamblers and the lengths casinos go to attract them to their tables.
“He was playing about as high as you can get," said Marcia Hartman, a former Las Vegas casino employee who said she saw Siddiqui in action. “That's what the casinos are looking for. They are going to give a big player, a whale, anything in the world he wants. From an ego point of view, he soaked it up."
Siddiqui's high-wire act began to unravel in October. A colleague went into his unoccupied office and found spreadsheets detailing millions of dollars in secret payments Siddiqui allegedly received from firms that sold products to Fry's. The co- worker scooped them up and took them to the Internal Revenue Service.
On Dec. 19, two dozen federal agents descended on Fry's corporate offices in San Jose and marched Siddiqui away in handcuffs. Siddiqui, the IRS contends, financed his gambling by taking at least $65.6 million in kickbacks. Charged with nine counts of money laundering and wire fraud, he faces 140 years in prison. Fired by Fry's, the onetime computer salesman pleaded not guilty last month. He has declined to comment.
Hartman and other gaming industry critics say the casinos are complicit for letting Siddiqui play far beyond his means.
“They built their own outlaw," said Hartman, who also was a high- stakes gambler who wound up in debt and facing prosecution. “They coveted him, they coddled him, they gave him the tools to become what he is. They gave him so much credit, his alternative was to go to jail or to steal. Either way, you go to jail."
Casino representatives say it's not their responsibility.
