Rear Admiral Timothy M. Giardina was banned from numerous casinos after being fired last year as No. 2 commander of the United States nuclear forces because he may have made his own counterfeit $500 poker chips with paint and stickers in order to feed a gambling habit, according to The Associated Press.

Investigators reported that his DNA is on the underside of an adhesive sticker used to alter genuine $1 poker chips to make them look like $500 chips, the AP reported.

Giardina was not charged with counterfeiting, but was found guilty of two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer for lying to an investigator and passing fake gambling chips in May 2014, according to the AP.

Then, Giardina was given a "written reprimand" and ordered to forfeit $4,000 in pay, the AP reported. According to the officials in the report, the Navy did not pursue a court martial because they were uncertain they could get a conviction with the evidence they had.

Before being removed from his post for the gambling related issues, he was a three-star admiral and second-in-charge at Strategic Command, the military's nuclear war-fighting headquarters, according to the AP.

Giardina was suspended from his post at Strategic Command, and one month later he was fired and reduced in rank from three-star to two-star admiral in early September 2013, the AP reported.

The report said Giardina was a habitual poker player and spent a total of 1,096 hours playing at the Horseshoe casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, 18 months before being caught using three phony chips in June 2013, according to the AP.

Shortly after in July, Giardina was banned from both the Horseshoe and Harrah's for 90 days, but returned at least twice to play poker at the Horseshoe before the ban expired, according to the AP. In October, he was given a lifetime ban from all gambling establishments run by the Horseshoe's owner, Caesar's Entertainment Corp.

Six days after that Giardina was kicked out of the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, the AP reported.