Poker site cheating plot a high-stakes whodunit

‘The first significant incident’
“We are all well aware of the criticism that this has drawn and are doing our best to update and implement modifications to ensure that this never happens again,” said Chuck Barnett, a spokesman for the gaming commission, which has licensed more than 470 gambling Web sites operated by 55 different operators.  “... In the KGC’s past decade of i-gaming regulatory enforcement, this is without doubt, the first significant incident.”

Some players questioned the selection of Catania, noting that he had helped the KGC develop its gaming regulations and could hardly be considered an independent investigator. But in an interview with msnbc.com he insisted he would pull no punches in getting to the bottom of the cheating allegations as well as the ownership issue — regardless of Norton’s stature in the Kahnawake Mohawk community.

“We’ll go in and look at reports from (KGC auditor) Gaming Associates, we’ll look at employees, including ownership, look at the software … whether the games are fair and honest and what protections have been put in place,” he said. “It’s going to be a complete examination of the company and no one will get any special preferential treatment because of a past position with the tribe or anything like that.”

While the official investigation grinds on, the Internet sleuths  have settled on a leading suspect: A professional poker player who was associated with ieLogic in the early days.

Their version of a “smoking gun” came from what they say is information on several of the cheating accounts leaked by company insiders. Arem discovered that one of the accounts, which used the screen name “sleepless,” was established using the address of a Las Vegas residence formerly owned by the poker player.

Poker pros visit prime suspect
After Arem published that information, poker pro Greenstein posted on Two Plus Two that he had spoken with other players who confirmed that they had received fund transfers from the player via the “sleepless” account.

Greenstein and his stepson, Joe Sebok, also a poker pro, said the player agreed to tell his side of the story on the Poker Road radio show on July 16, but later backed out on the advice of his attorney.

Instead they arranged to speak to the player in his lawyer’s presence — the only people believed to have done so. (Despite numerous attempts through multiple channels, msnbc.com was not able to contact the player.)

While the player told the men he couldn’t answer many of their questions, they said he maintained his innocence and predicted that his name will be cleared when the investigation is complete.

Both Greenstein and Sebok, who as poker players put a lot of credence in gut instincts, said they arrived at the interview all but persuaded of the man’s guilt, but left feeling less certain.

“We expected him to be dodgy, but he was just very comfortable discussing the situation as much as he could legally … that once everything did come out, he would not be among the people incriminated,” Sebok told msnbc.com.

Ethan Miller / Getty Images file Professional poker player Barry Greenstein.

Greenstein applied his mathematical perspective to the situation in a posting on Two Plus Two forum:  “Before I talked to (him), I thought it was more than 95 percent likely that he was involved in cheating. … Now I think it’s more than 99 percent that he knows people who cheated well enough to transfer money with them, but I think it’s less than 50 percent that he actually cheated or knew that the people were cheating at the time.”

In an e-mail interview with msnbc.com, Greenstein said he believes it is likely that the KGC’s investigation will confirm that the crime was carried out by an employee or employees of the former ownership of the site — whether it be ieLogic, Excapsa or eWorld Holdings —not the professional poker players who lent their expertise to the site’s developers.

‘A bunch of kids ... who jump to conclusions’
“There is no evidence to the contrary, except for some circumstantial evidence against (him) and a bunch of kids on Two Plus Two who jump to conclusions every time they are given a name,” he said. “… I'm not saying these people (the poker pros) are clean. I don't know for sure. But just because someone's name is associated with a company where there was cheating, it doesn't mean that the person was involved.”

Arem, however, said he remains unconvinced by the player’s protestations of innocence. But he said he’s open to the possibility that the circumstantial evidence leaked by the company insider could have been an attempt to shift the blame.

“(The player) has said that within three months all the information will come out and he’ll be cleared,” he said. “… In my mind, it’s a tiny chance, but if I was the one being accused, I’d want someone to give me the benefit of the doubt.”

More from msnbc.com Red Tape: Forget the package: At stores, size does matter Great Recession spawns crop of buzzwords Is your bank in trouble? More report bad loans When officials reject stimulus funds, sparks fly Cosmic Log: 50 years of science sagas Salute to soldiers: Send us your holiday greetings Giving back for the holidays? Send us your pictures

MORE FROM CRIME & COURTS

Crime & courts Section Front

Feds charge Pa. teens, police officers in attack Police: Girl, 12, raped in school stairwell Police find slain family in upscale Calif. home Motivational speaker accused in Las Vegas death Salesman convicted of torturing retiree 3 Rhode Island detectives shot during drug raid Gaps in DNA banks lead to tragedy Ex-Marine indicted in slayings of 5 Calif. women Police seek 2 in Las Vegas armored car heist Teen sentenced to 30 years in Florida gang rape Crime & courts Section Front   Add Crime & courts headlines to your news reader: