Poker Pro’s Profits Deemed Proceeds of a Crime

Paul Carr, a 33-year-old Irish poker pro, was fighting a case involving the seizure of Euro 36,000 discovered by police during a May 2011 search of the home of the girlfriend one of Carr's friends. It is believed that the cash was the profits of a crime and should go to the State but Carr says that the girlfriend was holding some of his tournament winnings for him. Carr says that he won Euro 300,000 in a poker classic tournament prior to the raid but police say he had not won that much cash at that particular tournament but he did at the April 2010 Paddy Power tournament. Carr has a record for being involved with drugs and associated with criminals. Judge Tom O'Donnell heard how the cash was stashed at a residence and felt confident in the probability that it was the proceeds of crime ruling that the Euro 36,000 should be turned over to the State. The court also heard that Euro 244,330 was found in a car in August of 2011 and it too may be turned over to the state at a later date.