All due credit for most of the actual fact finding belongs to others - I am merely repackaging and starting this new thread with the permission of NoahSD in order to make ensure the community is kept up to date and can access this story as it continues to unfold. This is an edited and updated version of the cliffs posted last night in the 2nd of the Girah scam threads, and includes information from the original "LookingforProdigy" and the "I am Jose" threads, as well as both NVG and the HS Girah threads that have been ongoing since the story broke. Please note that some side stories and theories are not included in order to condense the saga into something readable, and there may very well be some things that were accidentally left out due to the sheer volume of posts. I fully expect the NVG army to catch anything of large importance that I miss.
1/22/2011 - New poster "LookingForProdigy" starts a thread about an unknown young Portuguese player and how he can find him. Amongst the general NVG hilarity, several well known posters and HS regs (including DogIsHead (DIH) and Jungleman (JM)) post that this "Jose" is legitimate, one of the smartest poker minds they have ever seen, that they are mentoring and turning him into a beast, and that they look forward to what they foresee as a stunning future for this kid at the top of the poker world.
*Confirmed 8/8 by moderator thac in the HS thread that the IP address for "LookingForProdigy" matches that of "girah". It remains nknown why this did not come out earlier given the months of speculation about Girah. There remains speculation as to the identify of other possible girah or DIH ghosted shill accounts; as of yet, I don't believe a moderator has confirmed or denied that "girah" is the only 2+2 account hosted from the same Portuguese IP address that the "girah" account originated from. Today (8/9), DIH claimed that he was unaware that "LookingForProdigy" and "girah" came from the same IP address.
3/2 - Girah posts his introductory thread, including his life story, which includes his full real name but declines to give his screen names due to strict instructions from his lawyers, but otherwise describes his meteoric rise through the Euro poker sites, claiming to have earned $1.6 million (per his one posted graph). Again, many well known posters and players state they 100% believe the story. Some posters question his unwillingness to release his SNs and a few other inconsistencies in his story, but for the most part he appears to have everyone's belief after a few interviews and his inclusion as a Lock Poker Pro.
Some of these other inconsistencies, which appeared minor or possibly inconsequential at the time, however, have taken on more significance as the scam has unfolded. Girah's rise through the Euro poker stakes, if true, would have shattered the speed of even JM's ascent. Accounts supposedly linked to Girah from the "LookingForProdigy" thread cannot be confirmed, nor do the stats for those accounts appear similar to the stats of his now confirmed accounts (such as the "Girahh" pro account on Lock). In short, his results seemed suspicious; however, with multiple HS pros offering to take 6 figure action on anyone doubting the veracity of the Girah story, these suspicions remained relatively low key.
5/4 - Girah is disqualified from a Lock Poker competition he initially won, for multi-accounting. He claims that his backer, who he refuses to identify at the time, logged into his account and played some PLO while he was asleep. He posts an apology accepting Lock's decision to DQ him while denying that he did anything other than allow his backer access to account. More posters begin to question the veracity of this - why would you need a backer after winning so much money? Why would a single instance of someone else logging into your account get found out and result in a multi-accounting DQ? At this time, individuals who have seen him play under his pro "Girahh" account also post that he doesn't appear to be as solid a HS reg as his reputation would suggest. Also, the circumstances of his competition win are questioned, as it appears that he was losing the competition until 3 days prior to it ending, then wound up winning $100K (and winning the competition by ~$10K) in a possible chip dumping scenario.
It has now been confirmed by DIH that a) he was the backer at this time and b) he did log in and player under the "Girahh" account. He also claims this is the ONLY time he has ever multi-accounted. However, the circumstances of his win are highly suspicious. It appears that during the month of the challenge, he was down playing his regular stakes (mid stakes 6 max); it was only when Girah suddenly switched to playing HU HS (vs an account with the SN "SamChauhaun"), that he suddenly went on a heater and won enough to take down the challenge. While the holder of this account is unknown, Sam Chauhaun is apparently the RL name of a life coach used by JM.
8/7- MossBoss posts, detailing a scam that Girah ran on himself and other regs (all of whom essentially confirm the story). Girah used Skype to urge his victims to play one or both "aggro fish" players he had found - Sauron1989 and Dollarman, and he is also adamant that he be allowed to watch the sessions in real time as they are played. Victims lose varying amounts, but some are almost immediately suspicious of the play they encounter. They start collecting evidence, and a couple of people, including sauce123, DIH, and JM all find out about the possible scam. In Skype chat with one of his victims, Girah originally admits that his friend owns both accounts, but claims that he only wanted to steer his friend some action and adamantly denies cheating, while simultaneously begging for this to not become public. Girah apparently first admits that he was, in fact, superusing (watching the victims holecards and using that information during play) but that another person (his "rich friend") was actually playing the accounts, to DIH, who relays it to the victims. Girah promises to repay the $30K the victims lost as well as an additional $30K. DIH states that if Girah doesn't pay, he and JM will, although only the $30K that was lost. Both Girah and DIH, in posted Skype logs, ask numerous times that the scam not be disclosed at all (Girah, who offers to quit poker and vaguely threatens suicide), or that certain names are left out of the story (DIH, who requests that himself, JM, and sauce123 not be named). As of now, kjemmy (one of the HS players involved in investigating and originally uncovering the scam) confirms that some, but not yet all, of the money has been sent, all by Girah, from his "Girahh" account, with the rest due to come from the "Dollarman" account (which makes it highly unlikely the account is a friends, implying that both the Dollarman and Sauron1989 accounts should be linked directly to Girah).
After MossBoss's post, Girah posts his apology. At the very least, his claim that he confessed because he felt guilty is proven false - Skype chats confirm the scam was all but definitely known before he confessed. Other victims confirm story. DIH and JM post categorical denials of any knowledge or wrongdoing. Sauce123 does as well, and is rather quickly absolved by NVG of any knowledge or wrongdoing. During the NVG inquiry, enough information comes out via questioning of victims and Skype logs that serious questions arise about DIH and JM's relationship to Girah. DIH eventually admits to logging into Girah's "Girahh" account (just the once) and also allowing Girah to log into and use one of his old, unused accounts (see his blog post for details), and apologies. He also states that he considered himself like a big brother or mentor to Girah whom he has known "a long time" (a year?!), which is his justification for why he implies that he would still move in with Girah after the scam as long as it did not become known. JM's stance on moving in with Girah after the scam became known has not been established, but he denies any involvement in this "**** storm". JM and DIH both backed Girah, and he was into them for ~$50K at the time of the scam (per DIH's blog).
Minor issue, but DIH is known to have edited, and possibly written, things for Girah. He denies writing the apology issued in relation to the scam, but admitted to polishing Girah's autobiographical post.
Current theories (in no particular order, and many are combined to form specific theories of the crime):
1) Girah is a sociopathic scam artist who conned unknown number of MS/HS regs into believing he was the next poker God. As such, his scam is believable no matter his results because lol sociopath.
2) Girah's results are totally fabricated, he was broke, so he needed the money, hence the scam.
3) Girah's results are legitimate, but he lost money (via getting scammed by a relative, putting away money for his family, run bad, in debt to backers, etc, etc) and got desperate for ways to make some (his recent known results are mediocre at best).
4) Some combination of 2 or 3 reference his results - some fabrication, some truth, unknown how much greed vs. desperation played into the scam.
5) Girah is an actual person, but a front for an unknown number of HS regs, who set him up as a puppet to get action - sub theory that JM specifically wanted action from Durr. Many people have pointed out that his known results don't seem to match his legend at all, and that his play/questions/comments at certain times seems suspect from a HS player.
There are as many more theories as there are people interpreting the events - suffice it to say that there's question into the legitimacy of Girah as a poker player and into the involvement of several HS regs into Girah, either via their association or their creation of his character (particularly DIH, JM to a lesser degree), and for what purpose.
Issues still needing to be addressed:
1) Outting of all known Girah accounts, and confirmation of Girah HH/results.
2) Amount of multi-accounting/ghosting DIH specifically needs to address this, IMO, since the idea that he only logged into Girah's account one time and got caught is highly suspect.
3) Involvement of HS regs into developing and promoting Girah, including ghosting and editing of blogs, strategy posts, and training videos.
4) Outting of all 2+2 accounts made from the Girah IP address.
Recent developments:
Sauce123 stated in the HS thread that he confronted DIH about "x", and that DIH confirmed that "x" was true. Sauce has given DIH an unknown amount of time to confess to "x", or sauce himself will post about "x".
On 8/9, DIH answered some questions in the HS thread and has been caught in at least two confirmed lies:
1) He originally stated that he never posted on the 2+2 "girah" account, which mods have already confirmed is false; DIH is known to have posted on the girah account. He later backtracked and said he forgot, and that he may have posted on the account a couple of times. Moderator NoahSD recently posted a confirmed Girah post written by DIH.
2) He stated that he has never acted as an agent for Girah. Poster Krantz in the HS thread proves that he has, in fact, contacted others acting as an agent for Girah trying to get him a coaching/pro deal.
On 8/9, a poster claiming to a representative for JM posted stating the she had advised him not to post and that an upcoming magazine article would answer all questions in regards to his role in these events.
Links:
LookingForProdigy thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...e-info-964270/
I am Jose thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...rodigy-990495/
HS scandal thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19...xpost-1079436/
*Non HS regulars are encouraged to READ the HS thread only - HS moderators have a dim view of NVG style trolling*
Original NVG thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...xpost-1079435/
Second NVG thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...-scam-1079792/
Original scam post:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...54&postcount=1
Original Girah apology:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...60&postcount=2
There are literally well over 100 posts I could link, so I'm going to limit it to these two. Interested parties are encouraged to search any of the attached threads for specific key words if they would like to find what specific posters have contributed.
8/10/2011:
BLUFF interviews:
Daniel Cates:
http://news.bluffmagazine.com/daniel...scandal-24246/
Haseeb Qureshi:
http://news.bluffmagazine.com/haseeb...network-24259/
Last edited by Kevmath; 08-10-2011 at 10:14 PM.
