ABSOLUTE POKER IN THE NEWS AGAIN

Thursday June 7, 2012 : ABSOLUTE POKER IN THE NEWS AGAIN (Update)
 
Norwegian connection revitalises interest in Madeira Fjord
 
Investigative journalist Haley Hintze's blog over the weekend provided interesting reading as she reported on the latest developments in the legal manouevreing around the erstwhile parent company of Absolute Poker, the Norwegian registered Madeira Fjord AS.

Our readers will recall the furore that surrounded Madeira Fjord's bankruptcy and subsequent tax claims from the Norwegian government totalling the equivalent of some $30 million, incurred as a consequence of international money transfers to the Norwegian company.
 
The Norwegian bankruptcy courts have been trying to sort through the complicated international wheeling and dealing ever since, and Hintze reports that in late February this year the process came back to the United States with a request from Norwegian lawyers through their American counterparts for assistance from a US District Court in Illinois.
 
The Norwegians are seeking documentary evidence and a statement from former Madeira Fjord chairman Ron Janusz, and it appears that the court is cooperating by issuing subpoenas.
 
The Norwegians claim that Chicago-resident Janusz has ignored their best efforts to secure his help with documents concerning Madeira Fjord and a related Portuguese entity, Avoine – Servico de Consultadoria e Marketing.
 
"Correspondence with at least two dozen legal and corporate firms affiliated with Absolute Poker was also targeted by the subpoena," Hintze reports.
 
Janusz's response to the subpoenas has been to lawyer-up with a New York legal firm, and he has thus far not complied with the subpoenas. The issue will be heard in the Illinois court next week (June 14) and is sure to resurrect some interesting details around one of online poker's most shameful episodes.
 
Hintze details some of the multi-million dollar issues that are likely to emerge at the hearing at: http://haleyspokerblog.blogspot.com/
 
It may even shed some light on the oft-speculated acquisition of Absolute Poker and sister UBPoker by Joseph Tokwiro Norton, and subsequently Stuart Gordon of Blanca Games.