Marafioti Scandal to Trace Back to Motorcycle Gang

The latest poker scandal is delivered by Matt Marafioti: the Bandidos motorcycle gang may have cheated a number of high stakes players out of their money with the help of hackers.

Matt Marafioti

It is not the first time Matt ‘ADZ124’ Marafioti gets into the centre of attention with a scandal: in July, he treated his ex-girlfriend Lauren Kling with little to no respect, calling her names via his Twitter. His latest issue, however, goes beyond everything we saw from him before, even though the exact nature of his role in all this is yet unclear. 2p2 forum member ‘cbt5000’ posted Skype and Facebook chat logs of Marafioti’s with Swedish IT professional and hacker Samer Rahman. Based on these logs, Marafioti and Rahman planned to install Trojan programs on high stakes players’ computers during the PCA to cheat them out of their money later, seeing their hole cards.

Matt Marafioti on Ones to Watch:

According to their conversation, Rahman contacted Marafioti first. Some excerpts are as follows:

Facebook

January 2Samer Rahman
I really want to meet you private
nothing I can take over fb

January 2Samer Rahman
yes i know and since that year I have been develope this business I didnt believe it worked but today i know it works
Lets talk at skype
add me
www_samer

Skype

[ [12-01-04 10:44:54 PM] Matthew Marafioti: man
[12-01-04 10:44:55 PM] Matthew Marafioti: lets def
[12-01-04 10:44:57 PM] Matthew Marafioti: get molswi
[12-01-04 10:45:02 PM] Matthew Marafioti: i can access his computers i think
[12-01-04 10:45:07 PM] Matthew Marafioti: and he will play me all day
[12-01-04 10:45:10 PM] Matthew Marafioti: there is all these dutch guys
[12-01-04 10:45:11 PM] Matthew Marafioti: i want to get
[12-01-04 10:45:12 PM] Matthew Marafioti: like
[12-01-04 10:45:15 PM] Matthew Marafioti: fmylife
[12-01-04 10:45:19 PM] Matthew Marafioti: and ****ind0nk
[12-01-04 10:45:22 PM] Matthew Marafioti: and others

[12-01-04 10:58:17 PM] samerrrr: listen
[12-01-04 10:58:30 PM] samerrrr: you talked about molswi
[12-01-04 10:58:37 PM] samerrrr: are you going togheter to pca
[12-01-04 10:58:38 PM] samerrrr: ?
[12-01-04 11:01:30 PM] Matthew Marafioti: no we arent
[12-01-04 11:01:32 PM] Matthew Marafioti: hes with his gf
[12-01-04 11:01:34 PM] Matthew Marafioti: and ill be with mine
[12-01-04 11:01:40 PM] Matthew Marafioti: but i can go visit him he lives 3 hours away
[12-01-04 11:01:41 PM] Matthew Marafioti: hehe
[12-01-04 11:01:51 PM] Matthew Marafioti: hes up 155 k on me on Stars for now
[12-01-04 11:02:02 PM] samerrrr: is he going 2 pca
[12-01-04 11:02:04 PM] Matthew Marafioti: ill beat him back for it!
[12-01-04 11:02:06 PM] Matthew Marafioti: yes
[12-01-04 11:02:08 PM] Matthew Marafioti: hes playing the 100k tmrw
[12-01-04 11:02:23 PM] Matthew Marafioti: can we talk via webcam
[12-01-04 11:02:29 PM] samerrrr: sure
[12-01-04 11:02:33 PM] samerrrr: let me go to my office
[12-01-04 11:03:08 PM] Matthew Marafioti: ok
[12-01-04 11:04:52 PM] samerrrr: im caliing
[12-01-04 11:10:19 PM] Matthew Marafioti: if u give it to me now
[12-01-04 11:10:22 PM] Matthew Marafioti: i can use it in bahamas
[12-01-04 11:10:49 PM] Matthew Marafioti: they dont think im smart enuf
[12-01-04 11:22:18 PM] Matthew Marafioti: i know mafia
[12-01-04 11:22:20 PM] Matthew Marafioti: big mafia
[12-01-04 11:22:22 PM] Matthew Marafioti: italian
[12-01-04 11:22:27 PM] Matthew Marafioti: they protect and collect money for me

Following the publication of the logs, Marafioti replied, denying cheating or installing Trojan on anybody’s computer and offering $1 million for anyone who proves he had done so. Later, he reported a Trojan being found on his own computer. He acknowledged his connections to Rahman and the existence of the chat logs posted by ‘cbt5000’, although he claimed they had been altered.

Meanwhile, pieces of information began to surface about Rahman. 2p2 member ‘Mr. Hickey’, citing a “reliable source,” stated that Rahman had been known to have hacked high stakes players’ computers and he owned the ‘Alladin’ account on FTP. Rahman has also been proven to be in connection with Mohammed Kowssarie, a Swedish high stakes player under the screen names ‘TerrorofSweden’ and ‘Fast_Freddy’, who has cheated in high stakes games, against Patrik Antonius and Johnny Lodden, for instance. Both Rahman and Kowssarie has ties to the Swedish motorcycle crime gang Bandidos, who have been known for cheating money out of several Scandinavian high stakes pros.

Players are, however, afraid to publish hard evidence, fearing retaliation. Previously, there had been a post concerning the scams of the gang but it got removed within minutes; it is also a well known fact that the owner of an international poker site was murdered by the Swedish Hell’s Angels gang before giving a testimony against a former business partner.

In the 2p2 thread on the current issue, Rahman came along and denied all charges. He claimed he had only met Marafioti once but they have no connection above that. Next, he requested the removal of the topic on the “scam” and the 2p2 administration closed it to begin reviewing its content. Three hours later, the topic was reopened, as many of the charges appeared to be true.

Soon, ‘pokervangelist’ joined in, saying he had just met Marafioti at the Bellagio and he said his ex-girlfriend, Lauren Kling, must have started the thread. ‘Jas’ was then added to the list of scammed players, saying he had lost over $260,000 in a session to ‘saman_r’ and ‘westisbestis’, players who had almost the exact same stats. He then checked his computer and found a Trojan. Upon formatting and reinstalling, he met ‘saman_r’ again at the $1/$2 PLO tables. ‘Jas’ asked if he wanted to play $25/$50 PLO heads-up but ‘saman_r’ immediately left the game.

William Reynolds, who is known to be a close friend of Marafioti’s, also let his voice heard in the issue. He claimed Marafioti is lying about several details, although he is likely to be only a puppet in the case.

“I asked @Adzizzy to stop lying-he is my friend but so is Will Molson-matt its time u learned to defend yourself w truth,” he tweeted, publishing the screenshot below. Marafioti here admits to being able to see his opponents’ hole cards, although he claims he has never used that to his advantage.

Reynolds supports the idea suggested by the available facts that the Bandidos gang and Rahman are behind the scams. The 2010 PCA High Roller champion asks US players not to be afraid to give details and evidence on the issue.

“Swedish poker players are scared to speak up but any north american w information should talk..i got news.. HARLEY DAVIDSONS CANT FLY” – he added on his Twitter. Apparently, Reynolds is unaware of the fact that the HQ of Bandidos is located in the United States.