PREEMPTIVE

Report: Ambassador Pick Tied to Gambling Ring

Dropped out before FBI could probe his past.

Marc Lasry was all set to become the next U.S. ambassador to France, that is, until the FBI was asked to look into whether he had any criminal ties. In the wake of his close friend Illya Trincher's arrest for allegedly running a $100 million gambling and money-launering ring through an art gallery in the Carlyle hotel, Lasry decided to avoid a potential scandal and turn down the prestigious position. His name had already come up in the FBI investigation into the racket as someone who was known to love himself some high-stakes poker. "Its not that he committed a crime," a source told the New York Post. "But it opens a can of worms." Does this mean Anna Wintour is back in the running?