Missing Poker Pro Burt Boutin Once Exposed Ex-Wife's Defamation Plot

Missing 48-year-old Las Vegas poker pro Burt Boutin once played a critical role in debunking his ex-wife's shocking claims against her off-again-on-again boyfriend, Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, that he had an inappropriate relationship with her then 15-year-old daughter. 

Boutin, who has not been seen for at least three weeks, would go public in 2012 to report his daughter confided in him that she had been coerced into making the false allegations. 

News of Boutin’s disappearance surfaced after fellow poker pro Mike “The Mouth” Matusow tweeted that “his friend” had gone missing.  It was not immediately known as to whether Las Vegas police had yet launched an investigation into Boutin’s disappearance.

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But news of his vanishing act is most certain to make the media rounds throughout Las Vegas, where ex-wife Kathleen Vermillion dominated the headlines just three years ago.

Vermillion is a former Henderson City Councilwoman, who quietly resigned her position back in December 2011.  The ensuing months were anything but quiet as the former Councilwoman regularly made headlines in the Las Vegas Sun.

Vermillion would ultimately be accused of misappropriating funds at a nonprofit she founded, the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.

Later, she became embroiled in a legal battle with Arash Ghafoori, Executive Director of the foundation.  Ghafoori specifically questioned the spending of $300,000 from the partnership to its sister fundraising organization, the Homeless Youth Foundation, for which Vermillion acted as Chief Operating Officer.  Vermillion responded to Ghafoori’s questioning by placing him on paid leave.  She would go on to file a defamation suit against Ghafoori and the partnership.  The Nevada Attorney General’s office eventually requested that the FBI assist in its investigation of the charity.

Months later, Vermillion accused her former boyfriend, Sisolak, of having inappropriate relations with her then underage daughter.

She held a news conference that featured a crudely produced video of her daughter calling Sisolak a “scumbag”.  Vermillion also disclosed that she had filed a lawsuit accusing Sisolak and Clark County of defamation and invasion of privacy for allegedly spreading the story that she had tested positive for a synthetic opiate.

Boutin would go onto discount the allegations regarding Sisolak’s alleged improper behavior towards his daughter days later.

"I have spoken with my daughter about the allegations that have been leveled against Steve Sisolak. She told me the allegations are false," Boutin said at the time the claims were made.

He also accused his ex-wife, her lawyer Robert Martin and public relations manager Mark Fierro of placing the couple’s daughter "in the middle of all this for their own personal benefit."

"In a desperate move, Kathleen and her advisors managed to coax my daughter into appearing on a video," Boutin wrote. "My daughter thought she was helping her mother and did not realize the harm that it would cause."

The years following 2012 for Boudin have been relatively uneventful, at least in the public eye.

Nobody knows if Boudin, a successful stock broker by trade, went into hiding or if foul play might be involved.  The family dynamics here are certainly enough to raise eyebrows.

Boutin has apparently had run-ins with the law.  Just eleven months ago, the poker pro was arrested for violating probation. Two years previous, Boutin was charged with possession of a controlled substance. 

- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com