Sarah Phillips, the former ESPN.com contributor and self-professed gambling guru, is having a bit of conscience cleansing tonight, in the wake of our investigation into whether she was part of a larger, more nefarious con job and how ESPN editors could actually employ someone—freelance or not— that they had never actually met in person.
Anyway, after deleting a few tweets in the immediate aftermath of our story and then unfollowing several hundred people on Twitter—although she's back to following a few, including ESPN and TMZ—Phillips took to her @SarahPhilli handle to try and address some of what we learned today.
What does "concealing my identity" mean? Does Covers management care to respond? AND WHEN DOES THIS SPORTS/COMEDY SITE LAUNCH? So many burning questions left unanswered. More to come, as they say.
Update: Reader Chris M. emails to say he caught wind yesterday morning of an odd occurrence, when both Sarah Phillips' Twitter account and that of Condescending Wonka (@OhWonka) both tweeted out the same thing:
@OhWonka, according to Chris, immediately deleted the tweet. Curiously, Phillips also deleted the tweet—perhaps because overlapping followers were at-replying her and calling her out on it?—but you can view the original here.
When Chris did call her out on it, she DM'ed him this explanation:
And a quick Google search (thanks, @jeff1317) finds that @OhWonka has very much championed the cause of following one @SarahPhilli.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE #2: @NotBillWalton has dropped another bombshell, with screencaps showing Twitter DMs where Phillips claims she acquired the @OhWonka account some days ago (hence all the Phillips-centric RTs that account has been producing).
After that, @OhWonka DMs him to show it's Phillips.
More to come in the morning, I'm sure.
UPDATE #3: Hey, why wait until the morning! Two more things for now. First, go read this from Nilsen Report. It's a gripping breakdown, complete with screenshots, of one person's shady dealings with "Sarah Phillips." It's completely nuts, and we probably haven't heard the last of this one, either. (If the site is being wonky or unresponsive, try again later, but here's a taste of what's on there.)
Second, some dudes in Corvallis, Oregon, tracked down the address of a "Sarah Phillips," went to the residence, and made a video of them trying to get ... someone to come out. Readers, please don't go stalking people on our behalf. You might go to jail for trespassing and blatant jackassery (well, depending on the state).
More
- Is An ESPN Columnist Scamming People On The Internet?
- Sources: Sarah Phillips And Nilesh Prasad Picked Games Together, Scammed People Together, Got Fired From T-Mobile Together
- Another Sarah Phillips Scam: "I'm A Writer For ESPN And I Plan To Take Over The World"
- Meet Nilesh Prasad, Sarah Phillips's Scamming Partner And Supposed "Puppetmaster"
- In The Realm Of Gambling Message Boards, Anyone Could Be The Next Sarah Phillips
- Source: Sarah Phillips Steered Business To A Bookie Who Was Probably Nilesh Prasad