Maurice Hawkins Is Seeking Legal Bankruptcy

Who Is Randy Garcia and What Is His Beef With Hawkins

Randy Garcia is a restaurateur from North Carolina and recreational poker player who acted as a backer for Maurice Hawkins for a short period in 2017. The moment Garcia decided to stop backing Hawkins, the poker star owed him money and promised to pay back as soon as he could.

Two years later, Garcia filed a case against Hawkins at the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit for Palm Beach County, Florida.

On April 9th, 2019, the court granted Garcia’s claim, and on May 21st it ordered Hawkins to pay him $103,000 back, excluding the prejudgment statute and court costs of $12,828.34 in total.

In June of the same year, Hawkins commented on the court’s decision as follows:

“We have handled this amicably and there’s really nothing to write about. While he did back me, we had many conversations and money transactions that had nothing to do with backing. Dude had what he presumed I owed him. I was making payments. He wanted a lump sum. He said if he didn’t get 30K he was going to go on Twitter, contact the world and defame my name. By getting people to post about loans as if it is poker news and it’s really not. Had nothing to do with backing. Basically, say shit that Twitter trolls love [like] scum and I am a scammer. Then people run with it.“

He continued:

Garcia confirmed that his lawsuit is in the process of being amicably resolved — and with that, this conflict seemingly faded away for the next six years.

January 2026: Hawkins Publicly Announces Plans to Pay Garcia

While the majority of the poker community either forgot about this backing scandal or was convinced that Hawkins closed the debt, in reality, the situation was far from resolved.

On January 5th, 2026, Maurice went on X (Twitter) and indicated his readiness to finally begin paying Garcia back in a bunch of posts:

No one knew how successful the plan would be until Chad Holloway received a tip in April 2026.

What Happened to Maurice in April 2026?

On his podcast, Holloway shared that a player who wished to remain anonymous said he witnessed an unpleasant situation involving Hawkins in Tunica, where he regularly plays:

The very next day, Hawkins filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is how Holloway learned of the exact dates of what had happened: April 22nd and 23rd, 2026.

According to the United States Courts website, Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code provides for “liquidation” — the sale of a debtor’s nonexempt property and the distribution of the proceeds to creditors. It also releases individual debtors from personal liability for most debts and prevents the creditors owed those debts from taking any collection actions against the debtor. Ergo, if Hawkins is granted bankruptcy under this chapter, Garcia and other people he owes money to won’t be able to demand anything from him personally.

In the voluntary petition, Hawkins listed several people as those to whom he owed money, as well as the amount of his debts — between $100K and $500K. He also indicated the amount of his assets in the range between $500K and $1M.

Interestingly, in January 2026 he bragged about his income on Twitter:

Randy Garcia’s attorney and fellow poker player Rogen K. Chhabra came to talk with Chad and commented on the situation as well as Hawkins’ bankruptcy.

Firstly, he was clear that as far as he knows, the judgment between Garcia and Hawkins wasn’t settled and it’s still in force because Maurice didn’t keep his end of the bargain.

Secondly, he shed light on how they managed to arrange the garnishment:

“Randy and I spoke sometime last year and I said, “Hey, Maurice stops in Mississippi a lot. We know that. He goes to Tunica and he also goes to Philadelphia. What we ought to do is just enroll the judgments in all the poker stops now and just wait. And that way once he shows up I can issue an electronic rate of garnishment rather than have to go do a physical filing.

So, that’s what got us up to last week is, I don’t know, in the middle of last year I had enrolled all those judgments for Randy, in the appropriate courthouses and then just sat and waited for Maurice to show up and cash. And as soon as he showed up and I found out he was in Tunica, I issued a rid of garnishment to Caesar’s Entertainment and as far as I understand they’ve held his funds.

The casino in Tunica now has 30 days to answer the garnishment by tender the funds to Chhabra’s office. However, the next legal steps cannot be taken yet due to Maurice filing for bankruptcy:

“I’ve not personally been given formal notice, but I can tell you — I’m aware that Maurice has filed for bankruptcy. And he did it immediately after he realized the garnishment was going to hold up his funds. And then, by the way, the day after he filed for bankruptcy, he went and entered the Main Event in Tunica. So, I’m bankrupt, but I have more money to play more tournaments. […]“.

He continued:

Maurice Hawkins Spoke up About His Debt and Bankruptcy

On April 28th, 2026, Maurice came to Chad Holloway and Mike Holtz to talk about the situation and targeted hate towards his persona:

The podcast quickly became a mess due to heated exchanges between Maurice and Mike, tendency to talk over each other and tangible emotional tension. Chad tried to be as professional as he could in the situation but controlling two very emotionally charged full-grown men wasn’t easy for him.

Leading poker memologist Barry Carter made a accurate meme about it that perfectly captures the vibe:

pic.twitter.com/pRQL9G2qtS

— Barry Carter (@Barry_Carter) April 28, 2026

But even chaos can yield useful information — and here’s what we learned from Maurice himself thanks to his appearance on the podcast:

• When Garcia went to the court in 2019, Maurice didn’t go because he was young and didn’t understand the law.
• He insists that he is not a scammer and only owes money to Randy Garcia. He also reacts very sensitively when anyone suggests that he owes money to people.
• He didn’t pay his debt in full yet because he couldn’t.
• He couldn’t pay because he lives in “one of the richest states in America” South Florida, has six kids, life and family. And also because he is spending money here and there that he shouldn’t have.
• He filed for bankruptcy because it is his legal right.

Hawkins also convinced that Randy Garcia isn’t a victim in this situation because instead of talking to him first, Garcia filed garnishment after only a 6-day delay in transferring the payment for March 2026 on Maurice’s part.

When Chad and Mike showed screenshots of the correspondence between Hawkins and Garcia, which indicated that Garcia had not only been in contact with him, but that the transfer delay was much greater, Hawkins immediately changed his tune and claimed that Garcia had not responded to his text, which meant he is not a victim:

With this kind of approach, the conversation ultimately failed to achieve anything constructive. At the end of the discussion, Maurice bitterly said: