Unhinged French squatter takes over female poker champ’s $1.9M LA mansion — as his cliched act of defiance is revealed

A poker player rented her home Los Angeles-area to an arrogant Airbnb tenant who didn’t know when to fold ’em.

World Series of Poker player Wendy Weissman agreed to hand over her $1.9 million Hermosa Beach townhouse for a 30-day booking to a Frenchman named Evhan Lamarck a few months back.

What she didn’t know then was that he wouldn’t leave for more than 48 days, ignoring her pleas to check out of the $12,500-a-month property just a few blocks from the beach.

“He just refused to leave,” Weissman told ABC 7. “It’s squatting. It’s definitely squatting.”

Lamarck was taking advantage of California’s occupancy laws, which classify a short-term renter as a tenant after staying at a home for 30 days. Any attempt to evict would require a court order and a lengthy legal process.

Weissman claim the six-month process would have cost her $70,000 in lost rental income, as she was still on the hook for the home’s mortgage and property taxes.

ABC 7 confronted the squatter and asked him if he believed it was fair for him to stay there without paying.

“Yeah, it’s really fair,” he replied in a heavy French accent, before shutting the door in a reporter’s face.

Weissman described the ordeal as a “nightmare.”

“When you’re renting out a home there are two things which are your biggest fears and that’s squatting and bed bugs,” she told the Daily Mail. “This was a nightmare situation.”

Lamarck claimed he had lost his credit card and had to remain in the home until he got a new one. He paid for 48 days at the property.

When Weissman pushed him to leave, the Frenchman began quoting parts of state law that he said entitled him to stay.

She tried to contact Airbnb, but they provided little help, she said.

“Airbnb did like the absolute minimum. I mean, they said: ‘Call your local law enforcement,’” she said. 

Police described it as a civil matter, before a huge water leak at the property gave her access to the property because it constituted an emergency.

“I sent him the video of the leak and he didn’t so I called the police. He tried to claim there was no leak and he didn’t know what I was talking about, another lie,” Weissman explained.

“I eventually told him that I was declaring an emergency and would have a plumber come over.”

The water issue prompted Lamarck and several other people apparently present on the property to load up a U-Haul and leave the premises.

But the nightmare wasn’t quite over for Weissman, the poker savant.

The tenant left a huge mess in the home, including cups full of cigarette butts, a filthy toilet and sand throughout the shower.

Weissman said the squatter caused a good amount of damage, and she’s likely out “a couple of thousand” dollars after her insurance and damage coverage provided through Airbnb.

Lamarck added insult to injury by writing a negative review of his stay. But Weissman demanded the review be taken down, and the platform has since pulled it off the site and removed his profile from Airbnb.

“Issues like this on Airbnb are very rare. In this case, we are in contact with the host and have removed the guest from our platform,” the company told the Daily Mail.

Weissman told ABC 7 that she wished the platform also offered insurance for squatters.

“California has the most lax laws for this kind of thing in the US, and it’s taking advantage of law-abiding citizens like myself,” she said.