Blanca Games, operator of both Absolute Poker and UB, issued a statement over the weekend in an attempt to clarify the activities on Friday, during which agents of the Organismo de Investigaciones Judiciales (OIJ) (essentially, the Costa Rican FBI) raided the offices of the two poker rooms.
As could be seen in a Costa Rican news broadcast, and was confirmed by Blanca Games, the raid occurred at the offices of a company called Innovative Data Solutions (IDS), the customer service center for both Absolute Poker and UB. Rumors were flying that the raids were somehow related to the April 15th indictments of eleven people involved in online poker, including Absolute Poker principals Scott Tom and Brent Beckley, but Blanca claims this is not true.
The Blanca press release read, in part, “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.”
A Blanca spokesperson went on to say:
“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.”
read entire article here
As could be seen in a Costa Rican news broadcast, and was confirmed by Blanca Games, the raid occurred at the offices of a company called Innovative Data Solutions (IDS), the customer service center for both Absolute Poker and UB. Rumors were flying that the raids were somehow related to the April 15th indictments of eleven people involved in online poker, including Absolute Poker principals Scott Tom and Brent Beckley, but Blanca claims this is not true.
The Blanca press release read, in part, “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.”
A Blanca spokesperson went on to say:
“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.”
read entire article here