Debt finally topples a Las Vegas high roller

Omar Siddiqui, a top executive at Fry's Electronics, was coveted and coddled by Las Vegas casinos. Now he faces fraud charges.

By Richard C. Paddock
LA Times
February 15, 2009

Reporting from San Jose and Las Vegas — Omar Siddiqui was well-known on the Strip.

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.

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.

(More here.)