In 2013, 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel took an already inebriated mutual acquaintance, who we will refer to as Amy (not her real name), out to some bars in Las Vegas. He paid for some drinks before both returned to their hotel she recalled in an interview.
“Amy said that she remembers arriving at the Rio Hotel and does not remember going up to a room,” reads a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department report. “Amy next remembers being in a hotel room with Duhamel and saying no while he forced himself on her. Amy said that he was violent and she kept telling him no and that it hurt while he raped her.”
A month later at the European Poker Tour Prague stop, another woman, who we’ll call Rebecca (also not her real name), claims to have had a similar experience. She remembers Duhamel, with who she had a prior relationship, drinking too much at a club before she, who hadn’t been drinking, helped him get back to his hotel safely. She recalls him asking her to stay the night, which she agreed to only after explaining that nothing physical would happen between them.
“We both fell asleep, and I woke up about an hour later and he sat up on me, pulled my hair, and tried to put it in my mouth,” Rebecca revealed. “I tried to get loose, started screaming, and when I did that he started slapping me.”
An investigation by XXXXX unearthed previously unreported allegations against the three-time bracelet winner. The assertions have been documented through interviews with former inamoratas, text and messenger exchanges, and the aforementioned police report filed with the LV Metropolitan PD.
Allegations of 2013 WSOP November Nine Assault
“It happened in Vegas the night before the November Nine of Marc-Etienne McLaughlin,” said then 21-year-old Amy, Duhamel’s first public accuser.
As Amy told it, she and Duhamel had been friends since 2011. They ran in the same Quebecois circles and attended the same parties. She even claimed he rented a yacht on two separate occasions inviting her and other friends aboard.
“We had friends in common,” is how Amy put it. “We chatted a few times on Facebook too, but I never accepted a date one on one with him.”
According to Amy, Duhamel once asked her to his room to watch a movie, which she politely declined. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, though she kept the message.
The poker community in Quebec is close knit, so it’s no surprise that when one of their own made the final table of the 2013 WSOP Main Event, dozens of McLaughlin’s friends followed him out to Vegas.
“I was at a bar with my friends, my roommates,” Amy said. “And in the middle of the night, I was tired and drunk so a friend walked with me outside of the bar, but was too drunk to take care of me.”
She goes on to say that is when Duhamel, at the time a sponsored PokerStars Team Pro, and his manager, Philippe Jette, appeared and offered to take care of her.
“I know we went to some bars, he paid for some drinks, and we went to the lobby of the Rio,” she continued. “We were talking and my phone was dead. I don’t know if it was something in my drink or it was just alcohol, but I don’t remember everything … I remember saying no and he forced me to have sex with. Violent sex. Things that I hadn’t done before. I left the room confused and dizzy.”
In the days that followed, Amy stayed in bed and missed McLaughlin finishing sixth in the Main Event for $1,601,024. She even missed many of the subsequent celebrations. She hadn’t fully processed what happened and simply didn’t know what to do.
“I was new in the poker community,” she explained. “I was scared of the judgment and opinion of everybody. I didn’t want my family, my friends, to know what happened. I decided to not do anything about it. Why is it such a shame to denounce a rape? I am strong and I could live with that. I was hoping for apologies or talks from him, but since that, nothing happened. It’s hard to be credible against a rich team pro guy. And who was I to put drama and shit in the community?”
Amy kept her secret for more than a year before sharing it with a new boyfriend, a high-profile poker pro who declined to comment for this article. According to Amy, he told her of another girl who claimed to be assaulted by Duhamel.
During the 2015 GPI European Poker Awards in Malta, Amy and her then-boyfriend randomly crossed paths with Duhamel while at a bar. Amy decided to confront him, words were exchanged, and she admits that she spit in his face.
Things escalated, and Amy claims someone tried to stab her with a knife, at which point she punched Duhamel in the face. The police came, and as the aggressors Amy and her boyfriend were taken to the police station.
It was an ugly encounter, and one that Amy regrets, other than the fact it inspired her to finally speak up. She told PokerStars officials about what happened in Malta, as well as the incident that inspired it. On April 8, 2015, she returned to Las Vegas, walked into the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and filed a report with Officer Arguello, A.
XXXXXX has obtained a copy of the police report and verified its authenticity with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. In it, both Jonathan Duhamel and Philippe Jette are listed as offenders. The former has his “Employer” listed as “Poker Stars” and his occupation “Poker Player/Representative.” As for Jette, his employer is listed as “
http://PRINCEPOKER.COM” and his occupation “Manager.”
Offense listed: Sex Assault(F)-NRS 200.366.2B
Domestic Violence: No
Weapons: Personal Weapons (Hands, Feet, Teeth, etc.)
Hate/Bias: Unknown (Offenders Motivation Not Known)
Location Type: Hotel/Motel/Etc.
Location: 3700 W Flamingo Rd Las Vegas, NV
Narrative Reads:
On 04/08/15 at about 1224 hrs Victim/Amy came in to LVMPD HQ locatd at 400 S MLK to report the following:
Amy said that on the night of 11/08/13 she had come to town to support a friend who was in a poker tournament and was drinking at an unknown club when she was told by security that she was too drunk and needed to go rest. When Amy walked out she saw a man she knew, Jonathan Duhamel, who told Amy’s friends he would take care of her and get her to her room safely. Duhamel is a professional poker player who has won the World Series of Poker and represents PokerStars. Amy said that Duhamel and his manager, Philippe Jette, who was with him instead, took her around to other bars and getting her more intoxicated.
Amy said that she remembers arriving at the Rio Hotel and dos not remember going up to a room. Amy next remembers being in a hotel room with Duhamel and saying no while he forced himself on her. Amy said that he was violent and she kept telling him no and that it hurt while he raped her. Amy said that she cannot remember if Jette was in the room. Amy said that she has flash back type memories but struggles to remember because of how intoxicated she was.
Amy said that she runs into Duhamel from time to time because they are both associated with the poker circuit. Amy ran into Duhamel again a couple of weeks ago Malta and Amy confronted him and Duhamel told her that it wasn’t just him and that Jette had raped her as well. Amy said that Duhamel was defending his actions.
Amy has since discovered that there are several women from all over the world who have very similar stories about Duhamel and Jette. Amy now believes that this is something that they do repeatedly and in order to protect others has decided to come forward and file a report.
Not long after Amy filed the report, the case was closed with no charges filed.
“I’m just realizing that the story is a part of life that I can’t erase,” said Amy. “I filed a report but the case got closed because the system is bullshit. So, I gave up basically.”
REBECCA
Unbeknownst to Amy at the time, another girl, who we will call Rebecca, allegedly had a similar encounter with Duhamel.
Originally Posted by TheXFactor
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