Professional Poker Player Sean Sheikan Faces Deportation

Poker player Sean Sheikan who served nine months in 1995 and also was put on 5 years probation for misdemeanor sexual battery charges against a 17 year old girl is now looking at deportation back to his country of Iran. Sean was in his early 20’s at the time.

Sheikhan is famous for his repeated clashes in the WSOP with Mike “the Mouth” Matusow and his appearances on the High Stakes Poker television series. Since 2001 he has had two runner up finishes and a third in the WSOP tournaments in Las Vegas and has earned over $2.1 million in poker winnings in his career.

David Chesnoff, Sheikans lawyer, told Cardplayer Magazine in an interview that, “It’s not allegations involving a child in the actual meaning of the word, it’s a legal definition. There’s a lot of work to be done on his behalf that’s going to be done. He’s a good husband and a good father, and a lot of people have problems when they’re young that shouldn’t follow them for the rest of their lives.

The now 38 year old who immigrated to the U.S. when he was nine is married to an American-born woman and has a small child, but a spokesman at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) office said that was not a concern and they wanted him out of the United States.

According to Chesnoff, ICE should have higher priorities, “Maybe [ICE] should be looking for guys in Al-Qaeda instead of guys that are good people and, in the context of poker, who entertain people.”

Over 9,300 people have been deported since 2003 with Operation Predator. Homeland Security instituted this program to “safeguard children from foreign national pedophiles, human traffickers, international sex tourists, and other predatory criminals.”

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