Dan Bilzerian Seeking Plea Deal to Avoid Felony Charges

January 15th, 2015 | by Kaycee James

Lawyers for Dan Bilzerian are hoping to reach a plea deal that would avoid felony charges. (Image: lmk.com)

Dan Bilzerian may be the “King of Instagram,” but he’s now facing some pretty serious charges in court.

Officials allege that Bilzerian and a friend illegally blew up the cab of a tractor-trailer using homemade explosives in the desert outside of Las Vegas, a crime that could carry felony charges for both Bilzerian and the friend, Jeremy David Guymon.

Now, lawyers for Bilzerian are seeking a plea bargain in the hopes of avoiding a trial for the two men.

The problems stem from a November 4 incident, in which the two men caused an explosion and fire on federal land south of Las Vegas.

According to police, Bilzerian and Guymon exploded more than 90 pounds of an explosive mixture on the land, which is normally used by target shooters.

Because of the explosion, truck parts were spread out over an area of 300 yards, with some hikers in the area even saying that debris flew over their heads.

Bilzerian Could Face Several Years in Jail

That eventually led to Bilzerian’s arrest on December 11 at Los Angeles International Airport on a warrant from Clark County.

At the time, lawyer David Chesnoff (who is also defending Paul and Darren Phua in their illegal sports betting case) said that he and Bilzerian were looking forward to seeing the case resolved in court.

Now, however, it seems as though they would rather find a way to keep the social media superstar out of jail if at all possible.

On Friday, Attorney Richard Schonfeld (also part of the Phua defense team) appeared in court on behalf of both Bilzerian and Guymon. While nothing was resolved at the hearing, Judge Joseph Sciscento set another status check for February 6.

It’s likely that Bilzerian’s proclivity for sharing his brazen activities led directly to his arrest. Bilzerian boasted about the explosion online, which helped investigators establish that he had been at the scene of the crime.

Bilzerian and Guymon also reportedly told the person who sold them the truck that they planned to blow it up, and packaging for the materials used in making the bomb were found addressed to Bilzerian’s home.

If the case does go to trial and the defendants are found guilty, both Bilzerian and Guymon could face as much as six years in jail and fines of up to $10,000. Both men are currently free on $10,000 bond.

Bilzerian Still Active on Social Media; Key Photo a Hoax

As far as anyone can tell, the arrest hasn’t stopped Bilzerian from exploring his love of heavy weapons or sharing his activities on social media.

Just last week, he posted a video in which he and some female friends fired guns at a slightly more reasonable target: a soda can.

But while Bilzerian’s exploits seem to get more outlandish all the time, you can’t believe everything that you read on the Internet.

In recent days, Max Key, the son of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, posted a photo to Instagram that purported to show him playing golf with Bilzerian.

Many media outlets ran with the photo, and some were stunned that the Prime Minister’s son was associating with a man facing criminal charges in the United States.

However, it turned out that the photo was just a joke, and the man in the picture was actually just a friend of Key’s who bears some resemblance to Bilzerian.