Yeah the CalvinAyre piece screwed up by referencing the connection as springing from the "Panama Papers" (i'll chalk it up to negligence rather than stupid clickbait, since i've liked that guy's articles in the past and found them reasonably well-written.) It's too bad to see all the other news outlets repeating the PANAMAPAPERSOMG! connection because I don't think it's accurate.

The names Isam Mansour / Goulissa Baazov / Zhapa have been online as part of "secret lists of offshore companies" like this: http://berndpulch.org/2013/12/page/7/
for at least 3 years, as you can see. No idea where those lists came from, or why they're titled as such, but I'm guessing that's where the Ayre piece info originated.

There was an interesting story yesterday on the radio about how the Panama papers show that Vladimir Putin's best friend, a cellist who has supposedly renounced everything to dedicate himself to music, is tied in the Panama papers to accounts worth $2 billion. There's no mention of Putin in the papers.

The story mentioned that a lot of Russians were laughing about the revelations, along the lines of "oh really? You only found $2 billion?", pointing out that Mossack Fonseca is only one of many many companies that set up these kinds of accounts.

It would be fun if dNegs were to post on this thread. Btw, dNegs, if you're reading this I'm a fan. I'm one of "those" people who tune in because of the personalities + aptitude.

there are plenty of threads dnegs probably does not read. this is NOT one of them !

but seriously doubt Stars would allow him to post here.

There's probably complete chaos in the PS head office, at this point - which makes dNegs all the more valuable as a spokesperson for them. Kind of ironic when you think about it.

Some media outlets put Putin's net worth to over $50 billion. We'll probably never know. Either way, I blame Obama...

I think I might move to Russia and make my fortune playing the banjo.

Believe it or not, David Baazov will be honoured on April 10, along with Hockey Hall of Fame's Larry Robinson. "Baazov will announce an exceptional donation," thanks to PokerStars players and Amaya investors.
Annual Sports Celebrity Breakfast to honour David Baazov

He's comping some of the seniors he and his bro ripped off to fund their startup.


Oh he will be announcing it? The check must be as good as cashed then. I wonder if they know this guy bats in the low double digits.

Even if he somehow delivers, it seems profoundly unwise to accept a large donation from someone currently under indictment for serious securities violations, at least it would be in the US.

This isnt real life surely ?

lol

I think people will take money wherever it can be found, regardless of its origin...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Milken

If AYA is better managed going forward and the players keep playing, DB will come out of this an unbelievably rich and beloved philanthropist.

Why you guys hatin'?

Yeah guys cmon, hes helping those jews with his stolen corporate money. What a stand up guy!

****in hate that scum

seems so consistent with those guys, they can donate all they want to charities but it doesnt cover the cancer that is baazov.

You have got to be ****ting me

What's a little stock fraud charge in regulated gaming circles ? Especially when it involves bribery to illegally buy a basketball franchise (....on which it possibly could take bets ?):

"Las Vegas Sands Corp agreed to pay $9 million to end the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's more than five-year probe into whether it violated a federal anti-bribery law by paying a consultant to help it do business in China and Macau.

"Thursday's civil settlement resolves charges that the casino operator run by billionaire Sheldon Adelson violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by failing to properly authorize or document more than $62 million of payments to the consultant, known within the company as a "beard," between 2006 and 2011.

The SEC said the consultant served as a middleman to conceal Las Vegas Sands' effort to buy a team in the Chinese Basketball Association, which forbade gaming companies from ownership, and part of a Beijing building despite China's casino gambling ban."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lv...-idUSKCN0X42CZ

.....the game will continue for Stars, and the Baazov ouster can only be good thing for the operation overall. It seemsan attractive buyout prospect, aside from Baazov's id I mean.

The game will continue for a while but ultimately someone may need to ride this sick horse through a slaughterhouse to get any value out. You can wipe out all the shareholders, fine. But the creditors will of course ultimately need to be appeased. Are the creditors likely to do better than Baazov?


Even for guys who get checks at the fire sale the problem with having things run by fast talking con men who don't know diddly bout poker is that if current trends continue 888 will be within spitting distance of number one in a couple years. Once that happens, anything can happen. Remember Paradise Poker? Party Poker? I'm sure Pokerstars will be remembered too, at least by the sucker shareholders and creditors who got rammed through the cleaners.

I read that yesterday and I'm still reeling from the three word phrase "philanthropist David Baazov".

Not so sure about that.

If Baazov buys Stars/Amaya to take it private, hopefully he gets better financing terms than the 14% and 16% (unsecured) loans they're still paying off....

Paradise Poker shareholders sold the company for $300 million in 2004, hardly "suckers". The acquiring company was itself later bought for 530 million GBP.

If 888 ever becomes number one, we really are in big trouble.

"Guest of Honour Baazov stepped to the plate and delivered a $1,000,000 contribution to establish the David Baazov Endowment Fund for Vulnerable Seniors. ‘I’m extremely pleased to be honoured alongside Larry Robinson and Steve Rogers, Baazov said."

Philanthropist David Baazov was feted as the Guest of Honour

really odd, the follow-up news (to the original news itt), which was posted on Monday on the thesuburban.com, stated it was "$100,000"

http://www.thesuburban.com/blogs/coh...d7edba430.html

Actually doesn't really matter if it's one zero more or less. A bloke scams in multiple ways and later donates a small fraction to charity. Doesn't make him in any way a better person.