A lawyer from Tallahassee is suing the 10-time World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring winner, Maurice Hawkins, over a backing deal allegedly gone south.

The most decorated poker player in World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) history, and recent American Poker Award winner for Breakout Performance of the Year, Maurice Hawkins, is being sued by a Tallahassee attorney, over an alleged staking deal gone sour.

The news emerged in FloridaPolitics.com, where Lewis, a partner at Fonvielle Lewis Messer & McConnaughhay personal injury law firm, filed a lawsuit in Leon County, Florida claiming that Hawkins broke off their staking deal and had not returned $22,788 in unused backing money.

According to the article, Lewis met Hawkins while playing in a tournament in Jacksonville last March. In a thread on the 2+2 poker forum, Lewis said that Hawkins offered him poker tips before eventually asking him to stake him in tournaments. Lewis agreed to a 50/50 deal and wired the money to Hawkins’s wife.