More Questions Raised in Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal
New developments and details are beginning to come to light in the Absolute Poker cheating scandal. It has been reported that Phil Tom, father of Absolute Poker founder Scott Tom, has been indicted in connection with the scandal and that Absolute Poker management and founders are unable to travel to the United States for fear of prosecution by the Federal Government.
Yesterday Phil Tom attempted to put to rest the rumors of a sealed indictment bearing his name. “I don’t know what I’d be indicted for! How do they know what’s in the supposed indictment? It’s sealed!” Tom is reportedly very upset about the claims published against him and has said that he will pursue legal action against the original website that printed those claims. Phil Tom is a portfolio manager and the negative publicity is without merit. “I’ve already had three phone calls today from people I know wanting to know if I’m okay. This rumor is getting out to people and I’m a portfolio manager. This isn’t good for business.”
Word is out that the original website mentioned above is now being threatened with legal action by Absolute Poker. Joann Priam, speaking on behalf of Absolute Poker said, “Our legal counsel is requesting that this be pulled by 6:00 PM EST today or they feel it necessary to issue you a formal letter. This type of situation certainly doesn’t lend itself to a mutually beneficial and rewarding business partnership moving forward.”
News of the Absolute Poker scandal came out late last year when Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson began questioning plays made by another member “POTRIPPER“. Just one of the hands that alerted him included “POTRIPPER” calling Johnson with ten-high against his nine-high. Absolute Poker staff were very open, sending Johnson a wealth of data via email after the tournament had ended. Some of the information included in the email were hole cards, IP addresses and information on both players and observers who entered and exited the table during the course of the tourney.
Once the IP data was analyzed, it revealed that one of the accounts observing “POTRIPPER” during the tournament belonged to Scott Tom, a high-ranking Absolute Poker executive at the time. The data also showed that the account had an email address belonging to Tom as well.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), Absolute Poker’s oversight body, completed its investigation in January. In its final report, the KGC revealed the accounts that were able to see other player’s hole cards including: romnaldo, ronfaldoXXB, DoubleDrag, SuperCardM55, XXCashMoneyXX, POTRIPPER, Steamroller, Payup and Graycat. In comparison to the average member of Absolute Poker, the rates of return for those accounts were found to be exceedingly large. The KGC report stated, “There is no evidence that the impugned activities benefited, or were intended to benefit, AP as a corporate entity.” Affected players’ money was also refunded an amount that satisfied the KGC. “The Commission is satisfied that affected players have been appropriately reimbursed.”
