The Week That Was, june 12, 2016

     Don’t be surprised if Phil Mickelson soon suffers an injury that prevents him from playing on the PGA Tour for a few months, or if he decides to take some time off to sharpen up his game. Just weeks after he agreed to pay a fine in connection with an insider-trading case, Mickelson has been linked to a money-laundering scheme that was designed to cover what court documents describe as “losing wagers.” The scheme involves one of Mickelson’s gambling associates, Gregory Silveira, who’s pleaded guilty to transferring $2.75 million between bank accounts in what his lawyers said was a “misguided desire to help friends.” Specifically, the lawyers said, Silveira moved the money “virtually as a personal favor to an individual who did not wish his wagering activity to become public.” Mickelson wasn’t mentioned by name, but Bloomberg has three sources who say that he was the gambler whose identity is being protected. Mickelson hasn’t been charged with any criminal wrongdoing, but the accusations floating around him must surely be a cause for distress at the image-conscious PGA Tour. In one regard, though, Mickelson is lucky: If the tour decides that a suspension or some other punishment is in order, as per its policy the terms won’t be announced publicly.

     Our nation’s attention may currently be trained on Trump University’s court hearing in November, but before then Donald “the Candidate” Trump will have other legal fish to fry. Come August, the Presumptive Nominee is expected to appear before a judge in Florida, in a case involving the former Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Jupiter, a venue that now operates as a Trump National golf club. Some members have sued Trump, alleging that he breached contracts by canceling the memberships of about 60 Ritz members and failed to refund their refundable membership deposits. According to various reports, $6 million is at stake. Trump bought the Ritz in 2012, reportedly for $5 million. On the filing he made to the Federal Election Commission, he values it at more than $50 million.