2011 May | Poker Blog

My View on The Department of Justice, the FBI, and their seizure of Poker Domains Part 3

There is a major publicity campaign by Gary Loveman who is CEO of Caesars Entertainment Group and others in the casino industry crying out to regulate online gambling. They want to legalize it so they can promote their own online casino rooms and make billions online. They are calling the crisis an opportunity:
Quote from Gary Loveman on CNN Money:
“Should we seize the moment to legalize online poker, permit a safe and legitimate industry in the U.S., and bring those jobs and revenues home?” Unequivocally, the answer is yes.

Gary Loveman starting to look and act like Nixon

The question is whether Caesar’s parent companies and the NFL created that crisis in the first place so that they could profit. I can tell you that my opinion based on research is YES. My opinion based on research, is that brick and mortar casino’s parent companies and the NFL paid lobbyist millions of dollars to attach the UIGEA to a port security bill so that they could profit by creating licensed online gambling sites (NFL would profit from online sports betting ratings boost and licensing from the casinos). The new regulations would force Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker, Party Poker, PKR, UB and other rooms out of the US market so they could have a monopoly. It only forced publicly traded rooms out of the market leaving only a couple rooms operation in the USA. The problem was that Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker where still in the US and dominating the market. No problem! Time for Covington & Burling to call in Eric Holder who had previously worked for the NFL to have his henchmen file indictments of all the major rooms and freeze $500 million in USA players funds. This is how a Kleptocracy works. Here is the definition of a kleptocray by wikipedia:

is a term applied to a government subject to control fraud that takes advantage of governmental corruption to extend the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats), via the embezzlement of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service. The term means “rule by thieves”.

Here is how they embezzle money from the state:
From the Portland Tribune
“There is almost no weapon more significant than having an electric utility that can be a serious partner,” in the quest to attract new businesses and jobs to Oregon, Goldschmidt told the Tribune.

“We are in a state that needs jobs badly and needs these people (PGE) back at the starting line willing and able to make commitments, and being believed,” Goldschmidt said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here.”

Goldschmidt, a principal in Goldschmidt Imeson Carter, a Portland consulting firm, is one of three general partners of the Oregon Electric Utility Co., the new holding company created by Texas Pacific for the sole purpose of buying PGE.

Neil Goldschmidt was a former governor of Oregon who created a lobby firm. Neil Goldschmidt’s wife Diane Goldschmidt authorized an investment of $300 million from Oregon Investment Council which included retirement funds from he state to fund the energy companies buyout. Let it also be known that Neil Goldschmidt later admitted to molesting a 14 years old girl for years which eventually lead to her self destruction and death. The buy out was coming from Neil Goldschmidt’s friend David Bonderman the founder and principal of TPG Capital which bought Harrah’s.
Report from the DOJ investigation

Neil Goldschmidt (TPG Capital Affiliate) rape victim

The other parent company of Caesar’s named Apollo Management used pension money from California to buy Caesar’s (fromerly Harrah’s):
Leon Black from Apollo uses pension fund to buy Caesar’s:
“Teflon” Leon Black (as we like to call him here at Casino Examiner) has a checkered past with California’s public pension systems, CalPERS and CalSTRS. Black’s Apollo Management paid off a placement agent $60 million to get funding to buy Harrah’s in 2008. So the past performance of paying off people for shady dealings is a part owner of Caesars Entertainment.

From Deal Book
The investments from sovereign wealth funds and public pension funds accomplish several objectives. They give the firms what they calls “permanent capital” to operate and increase their business, as opposed to investors’ money that they use to invest in deals through their funds. The infusions also set a valuation on the firms in anticipation of a possible I.P.O.

Let me translate that for you…. It means they use YOUR pension and retirement funds to buy publicly traded companies and make them private monopolies. Do you think Caesar’s is not a monopoly? Perhaps on paper it’s not, because it has competition from Steve Wynn, but when you start to examine Steve Wynn and his ties to Apollo Management, you might change your mind. Apollo Management is the old Michael Milken outfit from Drexel Burnham Lambert. Steve Wynn’s mentor is Michael Milken. Michael Milken was indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and fraud and spent years in jail. :

Wynn visits Milken dozens of times in jail:
Then Wynn’s financier went to prison, but that didn’t stop Steve from continuing his “association” with “Junk Bond King” Michael Milken. Though usually frowned upon by gaming authorities, Wynn was spotted visiting Milken dozens of times in federal prison, and shortly after Milken was released in 1997, Wynn and former Nevada Governor Bob Miller attended a well publicized 4th of July dinner party at Milken’s Lake Tahoe estate.

No one in Nevada dared question whether Wynn had violated NRS 463.170: Qualifications for license… that states: The Commission (must be) satisfied that the applicant is: (b) A person whose prior activities, criminal record, if any, reputation, habits and associations (emphasis added) do not pose a threat to the public interest of this state or to the effective regulation and control of gaming….

Wynn has numerous ties along with Milken to the Mafia:
Lives Leaks interview on 60 Minutes with Steve Wynn

Leon Black founded the Apollo Group (now Apollo Management) which is part owner of Caesars along with TPG Capital. Leon Black was a former lieutenant of Michael Milken before Milken’s arrest. Leon Black’s father jumped to his death after being investigated for corporate bribery. Leon Black’s father Eli was chairman of United Brands, which was the forerunner of Chiquita Brands International.

Eli Black – Father of the one of principals in Apollo Management which owns Caesars. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree does it?

From the Con Artist Hall of Infamy:
With fewer banana crops and loan payments due, Black agreed to sell Foster Grant, a subsidiary, to a West German chemical company for $70 million. Then, in the move that sealed his fate, he authorized a bribe of $1.25 million to the government of Honduras, with the promise of another payment of the same amount, in exchange for a break on the shipment tax. The money went straight to the country’s president, Oswaldo Lopez Arellano. United Brand also paid $750,000 to officials in Italy to create fresh business opportunities in Europe.

Chiquita Brands leads us back to guess who? Eric Holder and Covington & Burlington! Eric Holder represented Chiquita Brands International when they funded death squads in Columbia that lead to the death of 4000 civilians. The death squads are called Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia. Chiquita even delivered them weapons on their shipping fleet. What can make more money than a monopoly on gambling, internet poker, and cocaine with the DOJ as your henchmen? So Chiquita gets fined $25 million for funding terrorists who killed 4000 civilians, but Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker get fined $2 billion for operating legitimate businesses?

My View on The Department of Justice, the FBI, and their seizure of Poker Domains
Part 1
Part 1 Addendum
Part 2

Please help us organize an investigation into bribery and government corruption.

Sources:
http://www.muckety.com/D3B27868390B1B247E2F1599B43CBC7E.map

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Management

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/business/worldbusiness/20iht-apollo.3966385.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Management

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/us-tpg-ranking-idUSTRE7427SU20110503

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/lawyer-for-chiquita-in-co_b_141919.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_M._Black

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Black

http://www.doj.state.or.us/releases/pdf/gold_report.pdf

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/01/goldschmidt_abuse_victim_dies.html

http://www.oregonshyster.com/shyster/goldschmidtvictimtalks.htm

http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingHtmlSection1?SectionID=3339921-110664-189741&SessionID=SNHoHeDu1Wnqz77

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d9a_1267814814

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/18/culture-of-corruption-holder-terrorists-covington-burling/

Hypocrite Gary Loveman

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Prior to being Attorney General for the United States, Eric Holder was a lobbyist for Covington & Burling and represented the NFL. Besides Caesars Entertainment Group, the NFL was online poker’s biggest enemy. Here is background from Washington Post:

A recent lobbyist for the National Football League who now works at the White House is playing a controversial role in the Bush administration’s last-minute effort to implement a ban on many forms of Internet gambling before the end of the president’s term, according to congressional and administration sources.

William Wichterman, who with others at the Covington & Burling law firm earned $2.8 million lobbying for the NFL against Internet gaming and on other matters from 2004 through March, is working on the gambling restrictions in the White House Office of Public Liaison, White House spokesman Dana Perino confirmed yesterday.

“He appropriately sought and received clearance from ethics officers to be able to work on this rule,” Perino said, adding, “I know our ethics officers to be professionals who know the law and the guidelines inside out.” She said last night that she could not immediately reach the officers to learn their reasoning in this case.

Eric Holder specifically was retained by the National Football League to represent them for Michael Vick – read this from Wall Street Journal:

Meanwhile, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (not a lawyer) appointed Eric Holder to oversee the NFL’s review of the dogfighting charges against Vick. Holder (pictured, right) is a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration and now a partner at D.C.’s Covington & Burling, the league’s outside counsel. Paul Tagliabue, the NFL’s longtime commissioner, is a former Covington partner.

Paul Tagliabue was a partner at Covington & Burling and was Eric Holder’s superior. William Wichterman, Martin Gold (Marty Gold), Jeff Miller, Paul Tagliabue, and Eric Holder have all represented the NFL at the firm Covington & Burling. Wichterman and the NFL were under investigation: From Jim Makos site
The NFL was under investigation in November for having lobbied against internet gambling. William Wichterman had been brought into question after he disclosed his “potential conflict of interest” in influencing the Bush administration to enforce more regulations with the UIGEA.

Paul Tagliabue was also commissioner of the National Football League and roommates with Lamar Alexander senator in Tennessee where Bill Frist was a Senator.

Bernie Parrish is the most outspoken critic of Eric Holder and warned of the conflict of interests before the appointment by Obama. See his article here:
Eric Holder Covington & Burling lawfirm partner and frequent employee of the NFL has been named Attorney General. Pres Elect Barrack Obama is assembling a branch of jock sniffers who are waiting to do the bidding of their professional sports idols and celebrities. In what amounts to another qid pro quo Obama made a deal with Holder to name him Attorney General if Holder could deliver Pittsburgh Steeler’s owner Dan Rooney’s endorsement and financial backing. Holder delivered Rooney through his NFL connection through his Covington & Burling ties. But there is more since Aon Consulting/Aon Corporation owner by Chicago Bears owners Patrick Ryan and Andrew McKenna are in danger of being prosecuted for conflicts of interest for also being actuary through Aon for being their employees NFL Player Retirement Plan’s costing those employees $100 of millions of dollars with cooked actuarial analysis that lowered their own and the other NFL owners employer contributions to that plan.

Retired NFL players complaints about this illegal cooked employer employee retirement plan relationship to the DOJ and the DOL have been stone walled by Bush appointees with both those federal agencies. President Bush’s first cousin Jim Pierce is Managing Director of Aon Corporation. Holder’s lawfirm Covington & Burling has already been retained and are implementing this Holder, Attorney General circumvention of federal law white collar crime defense of Aon. Coincidentally Holder’s specialty at Covington & Burling is defending high profile white collar criminals like Merck or Chiquita Banana or the NFL or Aon Corporation.

I’m preparing Part 3 of my series of articles on why the DOJ illegally seized the top 3 online poker domains. After watching Eric Holder make comments about online poker to the oversight committee, I felt it necessary to put this article about the NFL and Eric Holder out before part 2 was done. By commenting on the “appropriateness” of the seizures he violated ethics. He cannot be involved or oversee the matter regarding online poker or gambling in any way since he worked as a lobbyist representing the NFL.

Read more about the Domain Seizures here:
Domain Seizures PART 1

Domain Seizures Addendum

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