Absolute Poker Insider Cheating Scandal Downgraded to "Boring"

The Absolute Poker insider cheating scandal that first rocked the poker world a few weeks ago, or at least a few poker forums here and there, has gone from the stuff movies are made about (i.e. super user account, rogue employee swindling $7 mil, unicorns, plane loaded with cash crashing on take off, gay sex love fest between Montana frat boys who run AP*) to a total snoozefest.

Putting us asleep most recently was news that Nat Arem, one of the forum-ers who blew the scandal wide open, flew down to Costa Rica on PokerNews.com's dime to "investigate" the matter, and he came back unscathed and alive. Yep, no kidnapping, no roughening him up, no smoking gun found after sneaking into someone's office and going through their desk drawers only seconds away from being caught. Nope, the only thing we got was Arem signing a NDA and Absolute Poker releasing an "interim" statement from some nameless person that doesn't name names and says as little as possible to as few people as possible (statement, which you can read after the jump below, was sent primarily to a couple people on the forums).

The only thing that really woke us from our slomber was Arem saying on 2p2 that he thinks Scott Tom has retained "his ownership interest and is probably at least more removed than before from operational control." Not that we didn't expect this but it's just that with all the focus on AJ Green, not many people seem to be talking about Tom anymore even though it seems obvious that he was very much in the know with what Green was doing or had done and did everything he could to protect his friend (photo at right of Tom and Green in Montana last winter). It's also obvious that online poker players are still playing on Absolute Poker and thus don't really give a damn that with every hand they play they are still putting money in Tom's pocket.

We guess we'll just have to rely on karma for Tom to get his due.

Check out part 1 of Arem's account from his Costa Rican trip over at PokerNews.com here.

Also check out Nat's own blog for the cliff notes version of the above here.

For the exact opposite of the above photo but just as scandalous go here.

* The Absolute Poker frat boys may not engage in gay sex frequently with each other a lot.

ABSOLUTE POKER ISSUES INTERIM STATEMENT ON SECURITY BREACH

(NOVEMBER 8, 2007) --- Absolute Poker (AP) issued the following statement today with respect to its on-going internal investigation of the recent security breach in its system.

As Former Grand Chief Joe Norton, the 100% owner of AP, previously stated, Absolute Poker will, when appropriate, issue periodic updates concerning the recent security breach in its system. Because the Kahnawake Gaming Commission's (KGC's) investigation is on-going, the information provided in this interim statement is subject to the completion of the final KCG inquiry. Gaming Associates (GA) is in the process of auditing AP's systems as part of the KGC inquiry. AP continues to cooperate fully with these investigations.

First and foremost, we would like to assure our players, once again, that the security breach, which resulted in unfair play, was resolved immediately after it was discovered and confirmed, and AP's sites are absolutely secure.

At this point, all players known to have been adversely impacted by the security breach have been fully reimbursed with interest. The amount that was illicitly 'won' by the illegitimate accounts was approximately US$800,000. The amount reimbursed to players by AP as a result of the security breach was approximately US$1,600,000.

Thus far, our internal audit has uncovered the following additional information:

The known period of unfair playing was approximately 40 days in length, beginning on 14 August 2007.

A known perpetrator was immediately terminated upon discovery of the scheme and no longer has access to AP. AP's internal investigation continues.

The system breach was the result of a recent internal software release impacting internal reporting. The breach was exploitable only by an authorized AP person that manipulated the internal reporting software, together with the AP gaming software. The security breach was not, therefore, the result of an external action, and no individual outside AP could exploit the breach.

There is no evidence of the current or past existence of a "super-user" account. There is no player account in the AP system with the ability to see other players' hole cards.

The names of the accounts known to have cheated are: potripper, graycat, steamroller, doubledrag, payup, supercard55, and romnaldo. These accounts have been closed. All players that played hands and lost funds during the period in question, against these accounts have received refunds, plus interest, for the net amounts lost.

All accounts associated with the perpetrating accounts are under investigation. If any other accounts are deemed to have engaged in illicit activities, AP will refund all affected players in the same manner.

AP can confirm that not every hand played by the perpetrating accounts during the said period was compromised by the tool enabling the unfair advantage. Nonetheless, AP has refunded players for the net loss resulting from every hand played against the perpetrating accounts during the affected period.

All hand histories with respect to the affected period were retained by AP and were made available to both the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and the internal auditor for detailed review.

All registered accounts in the AP database are under investigation to ensure that there are no other compromised accounts with links or associations to the closed accounts. If the on-going investigation determines that there are any further accounts that were used in connection with the unfair play, all affected players will be reimbursed in full, with interest.

AP regrets the damage that has been done to its players and to its own reputation by this incident. We are absolutely focused on doing the right thing for our loyal customers, employees, consultants, and business partners, and we will continue to work with KGC and Gaming Associates to bring this incident into the full light of day and to right any wrongs done to innocent victims of this unfair play.

Currently, thousands of people are playing on AP both for real money and for free. AP is a safe, secure and fun place to play poker.