Breaking news: PS offices in CR have just been raided by DOJ

[alexpratt]

Not confirmed but literally just been told by two people via reliable sources that this just occurred

[baldidiot]

There's confirmation by "PokerStars Steve" on 2+2:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...l#post26456009

[The Buzz]

Pauly McGuire (the man behind the Tao of Poker) also is reporting this (http://taopoker.blogspot.com/2011/05...osta-rica.html), and his sources tell him of a possible cause at the bottom in an update.

According to my source in San Jose, "Stars got raided because UB and AP f***ed it up and are not paying their employees. So (federales) are afraid Stars will do the same thing."

[elgoog]

PokerStars continues to operate the world's largest poker room, business as usual. It is true that the OIJ is currently at the PokerStars Costa Rican office and has sent employees home temporarily, but employees will be able to return in a few hours. PokerStars expects the office to return to business as usual in short order as this action was most likely taken as a response to problems experienced by other local companies in the same industry.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...9&postcount=28

video of the raid: http://www.teletica.com/noticia-deta...id=95980&idp=1

[casinobonusguy]

I support the USA when they go into Pakistan to get people like Osama but Costa Rica should have sent that request back with a big "go **** yourself!" .Did you see how they went in there with guns drawn ? All over online gambling ,this is really getting sick .

[AceHigh Pino]

Not about PS, but obviously concerning news with Cereus and Blanca Gaming:

http://www.gambling666.com/news/fact...al-fk-you/4994

[Anthony]

Wow, they just can't catch a break.

[RBS]

Was the guns really needed ? Why not just knock on the door first also, OMG !

[graham]

video of the raid: http://www.teletica.com/noticia-deta...id=95980&idp=1

Wow thats pretty crazy... what was the first place they were going into? Looked like a kinda crapy house.

[michael1981]

They should put this much effort into stopping drugs, crime, whale hunting, deforestation, and wars! I don't think online gambling is the biggest evil on the planet, unbelievable stuff.

[grem]

so ... it was a mistake they made in going after pokerstars when they wanted UB owners

[eaton2003]

Does not seem they got the UB owners from the news. They are saying they have already left the country.

[wagerjunction]

They should put this much effort into stopping drugs, crime, whale hunting, deforestation, and wars! I don't think online gambling is the biggest evil on the planet, unbelievable stuff.

Exactly!!! This is beyond ridiculous. Honestly where was the need to bust open the door in this fashion and to go in guns drawn nearly commando style? What were they expecting to find in there? Jeeez

[graham]

They should put this much effort into stopping drugs, crime, whale hunting, deforestation, and wars! I don't think online gambling is the biggest evil on the planet, unbelievable stuff.

Yea and shark fin trading (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_f..._in_Costa_Rica) though its a pretty corrupt enterprise down there. This is what happened when Gordon Ramsay went down to cover it:

In early January, 2011, British chef Gordon Ramsay and his TV crew were threatened at gunpoint and with petrol while filming for his episode of the new Channel 4 show, Big Fish Fight. Ramsay said of the incident, "Back at the wharf, there were people pointing rifles at us to stop us filming. A van pulled up and these seedy characters made us stand against a wall. The police came and advised us to leave the country. They said, 'If you set one foot in there, they'll shoot you.' At one point, I managed to shake off the people keeping us away, ran up some stairs to a rooftop and looked down to see thousands of fins, drying on rooftops as far as the eye could see. When I got back downstairs, they tipped a barrel of petrol over me."