Alleged Fraudster Living
Large in Costa Rica
Online-Casinos.com
Does Crime Pay?
With the Absolute Poker
and UltimateBet cheating
scandals still very much
centre stage for the
online poker player
community, it's perhaps
not surprising that
characters allegedly
involved in the scandal
attract media coverage
whenever they surface.
One such individual is "AJ
Green", also known as
Allan Grimard, who was
the subject of much
discussion and
conjecture at the height
of the "hole card"
debacle on which players
still seek closure.
This week the online
gambling information
portal Gambling911
reported that Grimard is
apparently living it
large in Costa Rica,
home to many online
gambling companies. The
mysterious Grimard is
reported to be building
a large home in Los
Suenos, an upmarket
Pacific coast resort in
the area, driving a new
and expensive SUV and
sailing a "huge" yacht.
How a once low level
supervisor at an online
gambling company who
later is alleged to have
become involved with the
poker company has
managed to amass
sufficient wealth to
indulge in these
projects remains a
mystery. It has to be
noted that Absolute
Poker has not publicly
identified Grimard as
being involved in the
scandal despite lengthy
investigations by Gaming
Associates and the
Kahnawake Gaming
Commission.
Canadian born Grimard is
alleged to have been a
close college friend of
the man widely regarded
as the Absolute Poker
founder, Scott Tom, and
this was another
familiar name that
surfaced in the 911
report. The information
portal claims that the
AP investor for which a
sealed US indictment is
being held is Tom's
father. It is not clear
what charges are
involved, and it does
not appear that the
indictment has achieved
wide public coverage
despite the
multi-million dollar
nature of the Absolute
Poker hole card cheating
scandal (see previous
Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa
reports).
911 claims that it has
been informed by
insiders that none of
Absolute Poker's
management or investors
are to travel to the
United States for fear
of further indictments,
although Scott Tom is no
longer involved with the
company, which is now
owned by former
Kahnawake chief Joe
Norton's Tokwiro
Enterprises group. |
