As it turned out, there was no John Bowers, no estate, and no probate case. Most importantly, there were no cars. The money was actually being used primarily to finance Gomez's ambitions of becoming a professional gambler. Knowing that the holding companies for the casinos had names that sounded much like those of banks, he had Nichols wire the proceeds from the scam to his accounts at the casinos. He once won $1 million playing pai gow poker, and often gambled with Larry Flynt. Nichols and Gomez ended their partnership in September 2001. Nichols used some of the proceeds from the scam to open a custom car parts business in Las Vegas.