Just when you thought that the Absolute Poker scandal was yesterday’s news, rumors surfaced on Wednesday that Phil Tom, father of Absolute Poker founder Scott Tom, was indicted in conjunction with the scandal. Various online poker news sites have reported that sealed documents have been filed in the United States and are aimed squarely at Phil Tom, one of the original Absolute Poker investors. The same news sites have also stated that Absolute Poker management and its founders are unable to travel freely to and from the United States for fear of prosecution from the Federal Government. However, Poker News Daily spoke directly to Phil Tom, who vehemently denied the rumors.
The Absolute Poker scandal came to light late last year when Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson questioned moves made by Absolute Poker member POTRIPPER. Hands that raised the red flag included POTRIPPER calling Johnson with ten-high against his nine-high. Absolute Poker staff sent Johnson a wealth of data in an e-mail after the tournament ended, including the IP addresses, hole cards, and information on players and observers who entered and exited the table throughout the course of the $1,000 tournament.
After IP data was analyzed, it was determined that one of the accounts that observed POTRIPPER’s during the course of that specific tournament belonged to none other than Scott Tom, at the time a high-ranking Absolute Poker executive. The account had an e-mail address belonging to Tom as well.
Poker News Daily asked Phil Tom if there was any truth to the rumors of a sealed indictment bearing his name. His response: “No. I don’t know what I’d be indicted for! How do they know what’s in the supposed indictment? It’s sealed!” Phil sounded extremely upset about the published lies and said that he will pursue legal action against the website that published the unfounded falsehoods. Phil Tom is a portfolio manager by trade and the negative publicity isn’t warranted or welcome: “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.”
If the rumor indeed turns out to be false, then why would major poker news sites report it? Phil had the same question: “There’s always a motive and I can’t imagine what it is. I can’t imagine them not expecting to hear from my legal advisors regarding their attempts to damage my reputation.” To the question of whether Absolute Poker investors and management are able to travel freely in and out of the USA, Phil noted that he returned from Asia on Friday night. “If the government wanted to indict someone, they would just do it.”
Absolute Poker’s oversight body, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), wrapped up its investigation in January. The final report identified that the accounts which were able to see other players’ hole cards included: Graycat, Payup, Steamroller, POTRIPPER, XXCashMoneyXX, SuperCardM55, DoubleDrag, ronfaldoXXB and romnaldo. The rates of return for these accounts were astronomically high in comparison to the average member on Absolute Poker. It later was speculated that A.J. Green, a friend of Scott Tom, was actually the man responsible.
The KGC report stated, “There is no evidence that the impugned activities benefited, or were intended to benefit, AP as a corporate entity.” Players’ money was also refunded to a level that satiated the demands of the KGC: “The Commission is satisfied that affected players have been appropriately reimbursed.” Absolute Poker was fined $500,000 as well as “all costs associated with the Commission’s investigation into this matter.”
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