text: Darren Rovell reacts to the news that golfer Phil Mickelson was not criminally charged after it surfaced that he allegedly profited off an insider stock tip to repay a debt owed to sports gambler Billy Walters. (2:27) 
   
   The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday alleged that golfer Phil Mickelson made $931,000 after purchasing stock on an insider trading tip from sports gambler Billy Walters and then used some of the money to pay back Walters, to whom he allegedly owed money. 
   
   The SEC on Thursday said Mickelson, who was not criminally charged, has agreed to pay back "all ill-gotten gains," which, including interest, totals $1.03 million. 
   
   Mickelson instead was charged as a relief defendant, which is reserved for a person who profited without evidence of knowledge concerning the origin of the illegal tip. 
   
   Editor's Picks Meet the world's most successful gambler For four decades, other gamblers have tried to be Billy Walters while investigators have tried to bring him down. And for four decades, the world's most successful sports bettor has outrun them all. 
   
   Inside the Tuesday money matches with Phil Mickelson In ESPN The Magazine's Gambling Issue, Shane Ryan writes that Phil Mickelson has all but mastered the Tuesday money matches on the PGA Tour 1 Related 
   
   "Simply put, the money Mr. Mickelson made was not his to make," said Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC's enforcement division. 
   
   A spokesman for Mickelson issued a statement Thursday, saying the golfer has "no desire to benefit from any transaction that the SEC sees as questionable." 
   
   "Phil understands and deeply respects the high professional and ethical standards that the companies he represents expect of their employees, associates and of Phil himself," the statement said. "He subscribes to the same values and regrets any appearance that, on this occasion, he fell short. He takes full responsibility for the decisions and associations that led him to becoming part of this investigation. 
   
   "... He is pleased that this matter is over, and he will have no further comment." 
   
   Phil Mickelson was not criminally charged for allegedly profiting off an insider stock tip to repay a debt owed to noted sports gambler Billy Walters. Harry How/Getty Images 
   
   PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw, when asked if any disciplinary action was being considered against Mickelson, declined comment, citing tour policy. 
   
   A spokesman for Barclays, the bank that sponsors Mickelson, declined to comment on how Thursday's actions will affect his relationship with the company. 
   
   Officials with financial services company KPMG, which also sponsors Mickelson, said in a statement: "KPMG has had a long and meaningful relationship with Phil Mickelson. While we are disappointed by what the SEC announced today, we appreciate that Phil's statement makes clear he respects and shares the values of KPMG. We accept his statement of personal responsibility and commitment and have nothing further to add." 
   
   In its case, the SEC said Mickelson spoke with Walters, with whom he had placed bets, in 2012 about an upcoming spin-off of dairy company Dean Foods. Based on a tip Walters had received, the SEC alleged, Walters told Mickelson to buy the stock. Months after buying 240,000 shares, according to a companion criminal case, Mickelson then repaid Walters using the Dean Foods money, the SEC alleged. 
   
   Walters was charged with insider trading and was arrested by the FBI late Wednesday in Las Vegas. He was released from custody Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on $1 million bond and $100,000 cash security. Walters is scheduled to make an appearance before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 1. 
   
   In a separate indictment Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, in conjunction with the SEC and the FBI, alleged that Walters' interaction with former chairman of Dean Foods Thomas Davis allowed him to make a profit of $32 million in stock trading while avoiding losses of $11 million. 
   
   Davis, who had business relationships with Walters, allegedly received $1.1 million in loans from Walters that went unpaid. Davis is cooperating with the investigation, and he has already pleaded guilty to charges that, in addition to those handed down to Walters, include perjury and obstruction of justice, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday at a news conference in New York. 
   
   Authorities were tipped off when, they say, Walters made $17.1 million in 2012 by trading on information that Dean Foods would spin off a company called WhiteWave-Alpro. Through their investigation, the authorities revealed that Davis would frequently call Walters after he allegedly received inside information about the company and Walters would then execute trades. 
   
   The SEC also is looking to recoup gains from Davis and Walters. 
   
   Walters, 69, is widely considered the most successful sports bettor ever in the U.S. He grew up poor in Kentucky and moved to Las Vegas in 1980. He's parlayed his success betting on sports into the business world. He owns The Walters Group and Nature Development B.V., which counts numerous car dealerships and high-end golf courses as assets. 
   
   "Bill Walters is a true American success story, whose extraordinary accomplishments as a lawful sports gambler have been widely recognized and lauded," Walters attorney Barry Berke said in a statement provided to ESPN. "Mr. Walters' renowned work ethic and many other talents also have helped him achieve great success in business, investing and philanthropy. Mr. Walters and his counsel look forward to his day in court where it will be shown that the prosecutors' accusations are based on erroneous assumptions, speculative theories and false finger-pointing." 
   
   A spokesman for Dean Foods, based in Dallas, said Thursday that Davis resigned from the company's board of directors last year and is no longer affiliated with the company. Dean Foods said it is cooperating with the government investigation. 
   
   According to indictments, when the Walters and Davis would discuss Dean Foods, they would refer to the company as the "Dallas Cowboys." 
   
   Mickelson is also tied to a federal money laundering case, sources told ESPN last year, in which a California man is accused of transferring almost $3 million as part of an illegal gambling operation. The nearly $3 million is alleged to be Mickelson's money. 
   
   Gregory Silveira of La Quinta pleaded guilty in June to three counts of laundering funds. He had filed a motion in March to withdraw his plea, which was considered and ultimately denied by the court. He awaits sentencing. 
   
   Mickelson has not been charged with a crime and is not under federal investigation in the laundering case. 
   
   The 45-year-old Mickelson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011. He has won 42 tour events, including five majors -- three Masters, one PGA Championship and one British Open. 
   
   He has long had a reputation for being a gambler, though he has said he scaled back his habit after his son, Evan, was born in 2003. The most publicized payoff was when Mickelson and friends won $560,000 on a preseason bet (28-1 odds) that the Baltimore Ravens would win the 2001 Super Bowl. 
   
   He has a history of playing money games during the practice rounds. He occasionally gets a group of players and caddies together for dinner and small wagering during the NBA and NHL playoffs, and prominent fights. 
   
   The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — The Securities And Exchange Commission is filing a complaint against professional golfer Phil Mickelson related to insider trading. 
   
   The SEC says a gambler named William Walters received tips and business information about Dean Foods Co. from former Dean Foods director Thomas Davis between 2008 and 2012. 
   
   In 2012, the SEC says Walters called Mickelson, who owed him money, and urged him to trade Dean Foods stock. The SEC says Mickelson did so the next day and made a profit of $931,000. 
   
   Mickelson was not in the field of the Byron Nelson Classic in Irving, Texas, where play began Thursday morning. Calls to his representatives were not immediately returned. ||||| “Davis breached his duty and broke the law as the result of being in dire financial straits,” Andrew J. Ceresney, the head of the S.E.C.’s enforcement division, said at a news conference on Thursday. And Mr. Walters, who was arrested at a resort in Las Vegas late Wednesday, was “gambling on a sure thing.” 
   
   The case, however, is much broader than a story about gambling debts. The charges represent one of the most notable insider trading prosecutions since a federal appellate court overturned two prominent convictions — a ruling that led to the dismissal of about a dozen other convictions. 
   
   After the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the convictions of two hedge fund managers, Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson, in December 2014 — and in the process imposed the greatest limits on prosecutors in a generation — the government predicted a chilling effect on future insider trading investigations. Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, who led a sweeping crackdown on insider trading, warned that the ruling could allow “a potential bonanza for friends and family of rich people.” 
   
   But in charging both Mr. Walters and Mr. Davis with securities fraud and wire fraud, his office and the S.E.C. are sending a message that these cases can still be made. 
   
   “Brazen insider trading continues to be a blot in our securities markets, and so the integrity of our markets continues to be a priority for this office,” Mr. Bharara said at the news conference. Still, he added that “there is conduct that we think is nefarious and undermines faith in the market and undermines the strength of the market that will not be able to be prosecuted because of the Newman decision.” 
   
   Mr. Walters’s lawyer said his client had done nothing wrong. “Bill Walters is a true American success story, whose extraordinary accomplishments as a lawful sports gambler have been widely recognized and lauded,” the lawyer, Barry Berke, said in a statement. “Mr. Walters and his counsel look forward to his day in court.”
target: – The Securities and Exchange Commission is filing a complaint against professional golfer Phil Mickelson related to insider trading, the AP reports. The SEC says gambler William Walters received tips and business information about Dean Foods Co. from Thomas Davis, former head of Dean Foods, between 2008 and 2012. The SEC says Walters called Mickelson, who owed him money, in 2012 and urged him to trade Dean Foods stock. The SEC says Mickelson did so the next day, buying 240,000 shares and making a profit of $931,000, per ESPN. He then used that money to pay Walters back his IOU a few months later, the SEC says. Mickelson's attorney told ESPN on Thursday that the golfer, who wasn't charged criminally, has made a deal with the SEC that involves him returning all money made from that trade—what the SEC refers to as "all ill-gotten gains in the form of illicit trading profits," per USA Today. Mickelson was not in the field at the AT&T Byron Nelson tournament in Irving, Texas, where play began Thursday morning. Walters, meanwhile, was arrested in Las Vegas Wednesday and charged with insider trading; he's set to appear in court Thursday. (The New York Times offers a more in-depth look, including more on Walters, often said to be the best sports bettor in the US.)