Phil Mickelson has five major golf championships and countless endorsement deals. Thomas C. Davis, a former investment banker, has a Harvard pedigree and a country club lifestyle.
They also had a secret.
Both men owed money to William T. Walters, a high-rolling Las Vegas kingmaker, often considered the most successful sports bettor in the country.
Now, federal authorities say those debts were at the centre of a long-running insider trading scheme.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Thursday unveiled criminal charges against Walters, saying that illegal stock tips from Davis helped him generate some $40 million in profits and avoided losses. They also charged Davis, who has agreed to…