April 15, 2008

This is an exclusive column sent to Eye on Gambling only. We were asked to share this with our viewers. Although there are numerous grammatical errors, we decided to leave the story unedited for our readers to take note of.

Sincerely,

The Shrink

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Hello... I read a story on "Eye on Gambling" regarding the Absolute Poker scandal airing on 60 Minutes this month and it made me want to tell you that yes the Feds are on the case and are tracing the stolen money of Mr. Grimard with the help of the CR government now that they settled the gaming dispute with the US.

They believe a sportsbook called BetRuss was started with stolen funds. I can also confirm to you that federal subpoenas have been issued regarding "Absolute" to former employees as well as other associates of the company as well as a few others in the online gaming biz.

Companies such as BetUS, SBG Global, Skybook, Evolution Sports, (price per head shop) Beted, BetRoyal, BetGameday and a few others were all infiltrated by Federal Agents from 1 to 2 years ago.

The Feds had difficulty tracking down who the real owners are of these companies but I assure you they are still searching and have committed a considerable budget to do so.

Here's why.....

Federal agents were sent to Costa Rica to get jobs in sales departments or other available jobs at these companies, even as clerks in some instances..lol. Some were women and some were other Costa Ricans recruited by the Feds to infiltrate so there wouldn't be an obvious influx of Americans going to work in these companies and be detected as Agents.

Many photos were taken of people, buildings and cars working in the industry.... and even of gringos in the Del Rey, lol.

Now all this because I was recruited to take part in this sting as a CI (confidential informer) to get a reduced charge regarding a real estate scam I was involved in back in the states and when they found out I was also Costa Rican (Tico/Gringo) this deal was proposed to me to get my charges reduced.

So I agreed.

I had to move back to CR and meet my contact every week at a little pizzeria in Curridibat to turn over any info I had which was usually not much.

But after a few months of doing this, I had serious reservations after realizing how many people's lives would be affected if these companies were to be closed down putting my friends and even some family members out of work including my sisters and cousins who supported their families.....

I walked away knowing I will never go back so to the United States again and hid out for awhile so they couldn't arrest me here in CR. but I am not concerned about my case anymore as some charges against my co defendants were dropped.

The best part is I gave little to no information about the companies except for the ones where the owners were dicks to the staff (I wont name who) which pissed off my handler (fed) because he wanted to know everything about the owners but I never really knew their real names as I was not close to them or was in a different building....

I hope nothing comes from this because as far as I am concerned this is a legal business here.

Thought your readers might want to know.

John Doe