She was an alleged degenerate gambler — and tenant.
The lone woman tangled in the explosive NBA gambling scandal is $8,000 in the hole with her fuming former Queens landlord — who kicked the “pain in the ass” to the curb after she trashed her apartment and left behind a nude self-portrait, The Post has learned.
Sophia “Pookie” Wei, 40, was slapped with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges Thursday as the FBI rounded up 31 suspects — from NBA ballers to New York Mafia honchos — accused of rigging poker games that conned high rollers out of $7 million for several years, prosecutors said.
Sophia “Pookie” Wei, 40, was slapped with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges Thursday as the FBI rounded up suspects in the explosive NBA gambling scandal. Instagram/Sophia Wei
Sophia “Pookie” Wei playing poker with Chauncey Billups (left) and Saul Becher (rear) in 2019. Obtained by NYPostEven after cashing in as part of the scheme’s “cheating teams,” the accused swindler still stiffed her Bayside landlord, who evicted her in September 2022 for dodging rent and ripped Wei as a “pain in the ass” who trashed the apartment — even painting a naked self-portrait on the wall.
Ashley Scharge didn’t mince words when asked about his former deadbeat tenant’s role in the alleged con.
“I hope she goes to jail,” the 66-year-old told The Post Thursday afternoon.
Sophia Wei brazenly strutted out of Brooklyn federal court Thursday wearing a gray sweatshirt with the “World Series of Poker” logo. Paul Martinka“I know I’m never going to get my money back, so jail is the next best thing.”
The furious landlord added that the corrupt lodger had lived in the apartment for roughly 10 years, often alone after her husband bolted just three months in.
“She was a pain in the ass — nasty, bitchy, what else? Arrogant,” he charged.
“She hung out with a lot of sleazy guys.”
Wei painted a naked self-portrait on the wall. Ashley Scharge
Ashley Scharge was the Queens landlord of Sophia Wei, who allegedly left the rented apartment a wreck. Reuven Fenton
The floor of a Queens apartment rented by Sophia Wei, leaving the landlord fuming. Ashley Scharge
The furious landlord added that the corrupt lodger had lived in the apartment for roughly 10 years, often alone after her husband bolted just three months in. Ashley SchargeThen she stopped paying rent — all while cruising around in a Mercedes SUV and decked out in flamboyant, designer outfits.
“The kind of stuff that left no room for imagination,” the ex-landlord recalled.
“She’d say, ‘I don’t have it.’ That was it. She owes me $8,000, but I have no idea where she lives,” Scharge said, adding that he wanted to hire a private investigator to track her down, but it was too costly.
“She wore a lot of expensive clothes. She drove a Mercedes SUV. I knew something was up. She couldn’t pay her rent but she drove a Mercedes.”
Wei’s penchant for skin-baring ensembles and flaunting her luxurious lifestyle is on full display on her now-private Instagram.
The poker-playing “Pookie” posed provocatively in a slew of glammed-up mirror selfies, nonchalant bikini-clad beach excursions and in form-fitting dresses next to Yves Saint Laurent bags conspicuously perched on fancy bar tops.
“I hope she goes to jail,” Scharge told The Post. Instagram/Sophia WeiThe carefully curated image contrasts wildly with the scene Scharge found when he finally booted the alleged con artist.
Scharge recalled being stunned by Wei’s wrecked apartment and the pile of “expensive stuff” his sloppy former tenant had left behind.
Wei stopped paying rent — all while cruising around in a Mercedes SUV and decked out in flamboyant, designer outfits.
“I went up there after I kicked her out,” Scharge said. “She’d destroyed the place.”
He said Wei painted a picture of herself topless on the wall and had turned one of her closets into “one of these video rooms.”
“I thought she was making movies. She had fancy studio lights. She owned a cable box, which she wasn’t allowed to do,” the lessor said.
(From left) Mobsters Anthony Santoro (aka Skinny), Vito Badamo and Ernest Aiello at their arraignment. New York Post
Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups is the head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. Getty Images“She left a lot of stuff — she got out of here quick because I had an order to throw her out.”
Wei was among 31 people nabbed in a sprawling backroom poker scheme, linked to NBA figures Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones, federal prosecutors said.
The con allegedly dates back to at least 2019, with many of the high-stakes games taking place in the heart of New York City and involving Big Apple mobsters from the Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino and Bonanno crime families, according to the federal indictment.
Wei was blasted as sloppy and a “pain in the ass” tenant by her former Queens landlord. LP MediaProsecutors say other games were held in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Las Vegas and Miami.
Wei was previously identified in a 2019 picture at a card table alongside Billups, 49, and professional poker player Saul Becher, who was also indicted.
The alleged fraudster, clad in a gray World Series of Poker sweatshirt with her black hair pulled into a ponytail and a silver box in tow, pleaded not guilty at her arraignment in Brooklyn federal court Thursday afternoon.
She was released to home detention on $100,000 bail and has until Wednesday to find two sureties to cover the bond.
Wei declined to comment on her way out of the courtroom.
— Additional reporting by Ben Kochman and Matt Troutman
