“I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad.”
Starting with the UB and Absolute Poker scandals this company has about as much credibility as the former Iraqi Information Minister. I mean, have they ever been straight with the public about anything? How long did they deny any funny business going on at UB and Absolute before finally being forced into a corner with evidence?
Blanca Games has issued a statement concerning yesterday’s OIJ raids.
Blanca can confirm that Costa Rican officials visited the office of Innovative Data Solutions (“IDS”), the former customer service centre of Absolute Poker and UB in Costa Rica. The Organismo de Investigaciones Judiciales (“OIJ”) took action yesterday to further their investigation of Olman Rimola, the owner of IDS, Scott Tom, who was also recently named in the indictment list issued by the Department of Justice on April 15th, and a third lesser known party, Oldemar Vargas. The reported OIJ ‘raids’ of IDS and various associated private residential addresses were in relation to their search for Rimola, Tom and Vargas, and do not involve Blanca or the operations of Absolute Poker or UB.
A company spokesperson said: “We want to correct the rumors being reported in poker circles and the wider community that yesterday’s events are related to the recent Department of Justice indictments. Our understanding is that this is not the case, and that they were driven by local investigations of a separate matter in Costa Rica that involves a concerted effort to locate and apprehend Rimola, Tom and Vargas for questioning in relation to a money laundering investigation.”
Blanca has terminated its supplier contract with IDS after discovering that Rimola has misappropriated millions in IDS severance payments. The company is currently exploring all legal options available to recover the lost funds. Furthermore, Blanca is cooperating fully with the local Ministerio de Trabajo (Department of Labor Officials) in Costa Rica in order to coordinate an alternative method to remit all severance payments to IDS employees, thereby bypassing the facilities of IDS and Rimola to ensure that all obligations to former employees are fulfilled.
As stated previously, Absolute Poker and UB continue to operate their non-U.S. facing business around the world. The company is engaged in ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s office regarding an agreement that will facilitate the return of funds to U.S. players.
Let’s just take a look at this:
Blanca can confirm that Costa Rican officials visited the office of Innovative Data Solutions (“IDS”), the former customer service centre of Absolute Poker and UB in Costa Rica.
Uhm, I know Costa Rica has some unique cultural practices but I think cops rushing into a building with guns drawn warrants a verb stronger than “visited.”
I mean, watch the video. Does that look like a friendly visit?
That should pretty much be all you need to know about the rest of the content in the statement from Blanca. It’s not about correcting misunderstandings. It’s a spin piece in order to try to reframe the facts in a less damaging light.
A company spokesperson said: “We want to correct the rumors being reported in poker circles and the wider community that yesterday’s events are related to the recent Department of Justice indictments. Our understanding is that this is not the case, and that they were driven by local investigations of a separate matter in Costa Rica that involves a concerted effort to locate and apprehend Rimola, Tom and Vargas for questioning in relation to a money laundering investigation.”
Oh, that’s so much better. It has nothing to do with Black Friday but completely separate money laundering charges by people closely associated with the company. Remember, Rimola was still running IDS up until a few days ago. It’s highly doubtful that the OIJ threw together a complex case like money laundering in the last week. By Blanca’s own admission Rimola was engaged in illegal activities while working for Blanca Games (via IDS).
How hard does the shit have to be hitting the fan when this seems like a positive spin? “Oh, the police raided our offices not because of the DOJ accusations of money laundering and bank fraud that we’re accused of but because several people closely associated with the company were being sought on completely different money laundering charges. Totally different. We want to clear up that confusion.”
Blanca has terminated its supplier contract with IDS after discovering that Rimola has misappropriated millions in IDS severance payments.
This claim sounds highly suspicious as Haley posted an email exchange between Rimola and Absolute / UB CEO, Paul Leggett, which seemed to indicate that IDS hadn’t received any monies for the severance packages as had been promised and where Rimola threatened to give the FBI everything he had on Absolute and UB.
Regardless, even if he did steal some or part of the monies, again, we have an instance of someone UB/AP have been doing business with for some time that is crooked. If he didn’t steal the money then this is obviously a frame up in order to make whatever dirt he releases about UB and AP seem less credible.
After two major cheating scandals, a gaming commission investigation, and all sorts of public pressure about the honesty of your company, how in the hell are there no controls over any of this? You’ve got money laundering founders and key business partners, super user accounts, fraud, theft, etc.
It amazes me to no end that even one person is still playing on the site.
I can’t say that that estimate would surprise me if true.
the ones left on the site are probably 70% bots
@Barry: No idea but I can’t believe that between all of the various things that have gone on on UB and AP over the last few years that players haven’t heard about it. I mean, they took away the .com domains for Absolute Poker and UB. They’ve got notices up in the client about cashout limits and such. You gotta be pretty clueless to not have any hint whatsoever that something is going on 🙂
What percentage of players still on UB do you think have no clue about their shadiness? ie. pure recreational players like my Mother (bless her). I can’t put my finger on a figure, cant decide whether its a big amount or a very small % by now.