Europe’s online gambling industry has been a mixed bag at best, thanks to some insanely high taxes (France), shaky legislation (Spain) and fickle consumer interest (UK). Yet while growth has slowed or stalled in much of the EU, the Pisanos down in the boot are laughing it up as Italian gaming regulator AAMS is announcing a 28 percent growth in Italy’s online gambling market for 2010.

The bulk of the growth coincides with the surge of popularity experienced in tournament poker last year, thanks in no small part to the stellar fourth place finish of Italy’s own Filippo Candio at the main event of this year’s World Series of Poker. Online card rooms exploded this year, providing the majority of the “skill game” income for the year, an impressive €3.15 billion.

Fixed odds sports betting also had a strong year, raking in €1.35 billion, as did Bingo, which grew three (3) percent to €146.14 million by the end of the year.

Together, these three gaming segments were responsible for 96 percent of the year’s gaming take, according to EGR Magazine. These numbers are anticipated to grow substantially in 2011 when the country introduces online cash games in February and casinos in June.

Though most of the gift-giving holidays are behind us, online gambling portal Casino Navigator has decided to prolong the holiday season by offering gamers a chance to win big money for free. The site has released a comprehensive list of the best play- and no deposit bonuses available at some of the biggest online casinos on the net.

The promotion, which features more than $1,500 in free play opportunities, is a brilliant marketing strategy for the British hub, as it will establish a firm reputation as an informative source for the gamer who isn’t married to any particular online casino.

Listings include international bonuses for international and U.S.-based gamers hoping to hit the big time without spending a dime. The list features many of the biggest names in the industry, so gamers can avoid that whole “Nigerian Prince selling boner pills” vibe that some of the shittier online gambling establishments are known for.

Casino Navigator is also hoping the list will lead to some solid click through for the site’s educational guides on how to gamble.

The Philippines have been rife with protests in the last few months as Philippine government officials are facing a severe backlash from the voting public for their “pork-barrel” spending which often diverts government money to companies owned by friends, business partners and family members of the politicians rather than to their communities that need it for infrastructure development. Several high-profile current and former politicians have been charges in violation of Republic Act (RA) No. 3019 the Anti-graft and corrupt practices Act for illegal use of government funds.

Jan Robert Gustafsson

This climate of corruption and criminality has seeped its way into the Philippine online gambling industry as a team of ex-Bodog employees have been running scams and schemes designed to embezzle money from various companies and people in the gambling industry.

Patrik Selin

The group is headed by former Bodog talking head Jan Robert Gustafsson and former Bodog Europe CEO Patrik Selin is allegedly co-conspiring in the background.  Selin is rumoured to currently be living in Bangkok Thailand on the lam from tax authorities in his native Sweden.  Facebook updates by Gustafsson report he is currently staying with Selin in Bangkok.  Both have a gluttonous appetite for the red light districts of Asia, which we here at CalvinAyre.com would normally consider a good thing. The group has brought with them several other ex-Bodog employees who had all been sacked for reasons varying from incompetence to theft and embezzlement.

Gustafsson’s team is working together on a dodgy payment processing company located in some prime office space in the financial district in Makati.

The group’s plan for the payment processing company is unclear or who their potential targets are even at this point but given the groups recent history, there’s a good chance they are after the bank accounts of the local online gambling industry.

Jasmin Singh-Arcilla

Sylvia de Guzman

Also with the group are Philippine nationals Jasmin Singh-Arcilla and Edwin Erfe and Filipino-American Sylvia De Guzman. The trio is suspected to be involved with a large Manila based criminal organization. It’s rumored the women are paramours of the former Bodog executives but there is no evidence of this currently.  We are currently working on investigations into this group’s criminal activities.

Filipino-Canadian Sherwin Quiambao, a former low-level numbers cruncher with Bodog has teamed with former collections agent Canadian Sukhjap “Robbie” Grewal to open a Western Union store for the payments company. Rumors abound that both Grewal and Quaimbo have also been involved in a number of criminal activities since going to the Philippines.

Karl Rosengren

The duo is attempting to distance themselves from the leaders of the gang by working under the banner of Transact24 but Gustafsson’s close confidant Karl Rosengren claims through his LinkedIn account to be the founder of Transact24, however the payments company has vehemently denied any connection.  Rosengren is believed to be tied up with the group while working as a payments director for online Casino Vera&John. Rosengren was previously convicted of tax evasion in his native Sweden. He was also convicted for complicity in a high profile case fraud case involving the Swedish Pokerligan or Poker Gang.  Swedish officials called for a 5-year ban on Rosengren conducting any business activities in his native land.

Arleen Aldaba

Bodog’s former CFO Arleen Aldaba, former legal counsel Jennifer de los Santos-Beloso, Legal assistant Mary Rose Suanino, driver Dalmacio Mendoza and office clerk Mary Jane De Guzman are all co-conspiring with the group in some capacity.

A Bodog spokesperson has informed us that they have retained an external law firm in Manila and they are working with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), who are the Philippines version of the FBI, to file criminal and civil charges against all involved in the crime spree.   The Philippine Bureau of Immigration is also involved in this investigation.

Sherwin Quiambao

Bodog was the only group willing to speak on the record but there are other companies that have been swindled by Selin, Gustafsson, De Guzman, Singh, Aldaba, Quaimbo et al. each has told us that they are currently weighing their options on how to best join in with filing criminal and civil charges against the group.

The illicit activities being investigated in this crime wave include but are not limited to estafa, fraud, extortion, embezzlement, forging documents, uttering threats, filing false criminal actions, corruption of a public official, using corrupt officials to plant narcotics, frustrated bank robbery, the attempted theft of companies and real estate with forged documents, theft of intellectual property and auto-theft.

We’re told both criminal and civil charges will be filed, with the first starting as early as this week against all those involved and the charges will most likely even include those who are secondarily involved in the group’s criminal activities. Deportations of foreigners involved are also expected to begin shortly.

We’ll continue to follow this story and bring you updates as they happen as we have direct connections to all parties involved.

Early last week CalvinAyre.com was tipped off on the impending charges against former Bodog Asia figurehead Robert Gustafsson and a group of associates.

The trio of Gustafsson, Sylvia De Guzman and Sherwin Quiambao, along with their cronies are being investigated for a litany of crimes ranging from estafa (swindling), fraud, extortion, embezzlement, forging documents, uttering threats, filing false criminal actions, corruption of a public official, using corrupt officials to plant narcotics, frustrated bank robbery, the attempted theft of companies and real estate with forged documents, theft of intellectual property and auto-theft.

Today a Bodog Brand spokesperson was willing to go on the record concerning the criminal accusations against a number of former employees.

Where does the investigation stand right now?

“The first charges should be laid in the next day or two. Mr. Robert Gustafsson, Ms. Sylvia De Guzman and Mr. Sherwin Quiambao will be named in the first set of charges because there is more than enough evidence for a conviction. More charges will follow as our legal team and the authorities sort through all of the evidence.”

Gustafsson was fired in April, what was the time frame of the alleged crimes?

“It had been going on for a couple of years but it appears as though Gustafsson was using De Guzman, Quiambao and some others to make one last big score. Thankfully they were stopped before it could happen.”

Can you speculate or comment on how much the group is said to have embezzled?

“We have forensic accountants going through the records now so I can’t give a final total but I can say, over the course of the couple of years while Gustafsson was in charge, it’s the sort of amount that would have very serious criminal ramifications. Obviously, in the scheme of a business the size of Bodog its not damaging but it is always a concern when people in a position of authority veer into criminal embezzlement.”

Embezzlement can have a serious effect on a companies bottom line and brand reputation, how have the alleged actions of Gustafsson, De Guzman and Quiambao affected Bodog Asia’s reputation and their bottom line?

“Business is very good right now and Bodog is continually expanding our business and growing our player base so overall their actions haven’t caused any operational trouble.  It was not actually even noticed but we feel we need to prosecute as aggressively as we can  as a matter of principle.

It’s important to remember that we weren’t the only company targeted by this group but because of the strength of the Bodog’s brand, we felt it was important to get this out into the light.

Rumors of internal improprieties can do more long-term damage to a brand than the actual improprieties themselves. That’s why it’s important that we are addressing this now and we are prosecuting all those involved to the fullest extent of the law.”

The first charges in the ex-Bodog employee embezzlement scandal have been filed against Robert Gustafsson, Sylvia de Guzman and Sherwin Quiambao.

Gambling911.com broke the news Thursday complete with copies of the criminal complaint against the trio of former Bodog employees.  (Link to the Charges)

The first charge of what is expected to be several was for “Qualified Theft under article 310 in relation to Articles 308 and 309 of the (Philippines) Revised Penal Code”.

The filed complaint surrounds an illicit transaction back in April 13, 2012 where Gustafsson requested and Quiambao and de Guzman signed for an unauthorised wire transaction of $160,338 to be sent to a Filipino businessman for legal services that according to the report were never contracted for or approved by the corporate board of directors.

The charges against Gustafsson alleges that he was using corporate funds to pay for personal liabilities in a grave abuse of confidence.

Considering Robert Gustafsson wasn’t released by the company for another 12 months and based on the evidence being compiled by the forensic accounting team, this will only be the first of several charges filed against the group.

A source with the Global Internal Audit (Asset Management Group) told Gambling911 under the condition of anonymity, “There is at least one more charge coming out this week and one ready for early next week.” They also added, “Keep in mind the audits have only just begun and have barely scratched the surface. There are tons of other shady transactions the forensic team is piecing together but this first set of fraudulent transactions which were just too obvious and stood out like a sore thumb.”

On the length of prison time the group is looking at, the GIA source said, “This gang is looking at hundreds of years in jail once all the charges are levied. This particular Theft charge was based on a transaction from Bodog Asia, but it’s important to realize that there are a number of other victims and some are non-gaming companies.”

Hundreds of years seem like hyperbole but according to the Philippines Revised Penal Code, if convicted, the gang faces a maximum of 20 years plus an addition year for each 10,000 pesos over the 22,000-peso threshold.

Using the current exchange rate, if convicted Gustafsson, Quiambao and de Guzman could face a maximum of 640 years in a Filipino prison. Although it’s doubtful they would serve the full term.

There are reports online of another qualified theft charge being laid against former Bodog Asia director Robert Gustafsson. This latest indictment also names Sherwin Quiambao and Sylvia De Guzman, each of whom was named in the previous indictment, while former Bodog Asia CFO Arleen Aldaba makes her first appearance on police stationery.

The indictment alleges that Gustafsson had been submitting double claims for reimbursements for company expenses run up on a corporate credit card. Aldaba would approve these bogus claims and Quiambao would cut Gustafsson a check. All told, Gustafsson netted US$4,200 from his double-dipping derring-do (or derring-don’t).

But a source inside the Global Internal Audit (GIA) team tells CalvinAyre.com that this heist was nothing compared to the “outrageous sums of money” the gang purloined via reimbursements on Gustafsson’s personal credit card. The GIA team doesn’t expect to finish crunching those numbers until next week but the total amount of red ink is expected to top $140k. More criminal charges are expected to be laid early next week.

Aldaba was once a well-respected money manager but her inclusion in this indictment — and most likely the next ones — has turned her career ladder into a snake. Evidently, like Spanish American De Guzman, the temptation simply proved too much. Quiambao, a Canadian citizen, likely won’t stick around the Philippines long enough to see a trial. But like Aldaba, she threw away a perfectly good finance career after forgetting that the money she was counting wasn’t his.

As for Gustafsson, the man who once had the world by the balls now finds himself ball-deep in indictments.  One sites coverage featured a source suggesting Gustafsson’s behaviour was a textbook case of Manila Rock Star Syndrome (key symptom: flashing lots of money in front of young local girls). The only proven effective remedy is to go home to the loving wife and son you abandoned in Sweden, beg forgiveness and seek therapy. More to the point, there’s no extradition treaty between Sweden and the Philippines, although defendants can be convicted in absentia, so the accused are assured major criminal records no matter where they seek refuge.

CalvinAyre.com has viewed an unsigned version of the third indictment in this case, which was filed Tuesday in Makati City. The indictment alleges a conspiracy involving Gustafsson and a large number of co-conspirators, including Patrik Selin, two other Swedish nationals, two Canadians and — of course — this case’s superstar loony tune, Sylvia ‘Scissorhands’ De Guzman. CalvinAyre.com will have further coverage on this indictment tomorrow.

More charges have been filed in the Philippines against former Bodog Asia director Jan Robert Gustafsson and his wannabe Swedish mafia, enlarging a growing scandal that has unfolded over the past month. On Wednesday, the Makati City Prosecutor’s office filed charges of Car Napping under R.A. No. 6539, amended by R.A. No 7659 against Gustafsson and at least 17 co-conspirators, many of whom are former Bodog Asia employees who reported to Gustafsson prior to his dismissal by the company earlier this year. The charge carries a minimum sentence of 14 years and 8 months regardless of the list price of the vehicle. (Read the full indictment here.)

Joining Gustafsson in this rogues gallery is former Bodog Europe CEO Patrik Selin, as well as indictment veteran Sylvia Bernadette Gonzales De Guzman (more on her later), Sherwin Quiambao and other assorted Swedes and Filipinos, including Edwin Rejano Erpe, Rosemarie Fegueroa Frialde, Mariano Monteras, Jocelyn Tan Tam, Dalmacio Mangonon Mendoza III Jr., Rosemarie Fegueroa Frialde, Mary Jane Buenafe de Guzman, Maria Arleen Aldaba (former Bodog Asia CFO), Anthony B. Arcillia, Karl Rosengren, Sukhjap “Robbie” Singh Grewal, Mary Rose Suanino, Jennifer Delos Santos-Beloso (former Bodog Asia legal counsel), Olof Ohlsseon and Lee Hon Seng.

ON YOUR BIKE
It may seem odd for a seemingly mundane charge involving the theft of a 2006 Yamaha motorcycle worth a mere P30k (US $700) to include such a lengthy list of co-conspirators, but the indictment points to a much broader and far more ambitious pattern of criminal activity hatched by the group.

The motorbike was provided by Bodog Asia to former employee Edwin Rejano Erpe to allow him to commute to and from work. In August, Erpe failed to return to work following a five-day vacation and efforts to contact him proved unsuccessful. A month later, the motorcycle was reported stolen to the Makati Police Department.

It was later discovered that De Guzman had instructed Erpe not to return the motorcycle and had promised to pay Erpe P200k for running errands for herself, Gustafsson and the other conspirators named in the indictment. And so the motorcycle became the thread on which investigators tugged, eventually exposing the much larger conspiracy at play.

Following Gustafsson’s dismissal from Bodog Asia, a Global Internal Audit (GIA) team was brought in to investigate some financial irregularities on the company’s books. But the jig was well and truly up when Gustafsson & Co. attempted to recruit a new member into their conspiracy, only to have this individual report the gang’s offer to the GIA.

In time, the GIA was able to identify six companies at which the gang had committed infractions ranging from corporate fraud, embezzlement and theft of company funds, properties and business opportunities. The car napping indictment indicates that more criminal complaints are expected to be filed against the gang in due course.

CUTTING REMARKS
On Sept. 2, 2013, members of the conspiracy attempted to withdraw a significant sum of money from a Bodog Asia corporate bank account. Smelling a rat, a bank employee refused to permit the withdrawal, prompting De Guzman to threaten the employee with violence. Not sure how seriously to take this threat, the bank employee purposefully filled out the withdrawal certificate incorrectly, knowing that this would cause the bank manager to reject the request.

Undeterred, De Guzman returned to the bank the next day to try again. When this attempt met with no greater success, De Guzman dropped several names she believed would bolster her case, including Gustafsson’s. When this too failed to sway the bank manager, Sylvia Scissorhands threatened to cut out the bank manager’s tongue if she didn’t process the withdrawal request (as documented in the police notes on the incident, viewable below).

GRAND THEFT BUILDING
The Gustafsson gang’s appetite for misappropriation wasn’t limited to readily transportable bank notes. Attempts were reportedly made to forge documents transferring ownership of a $4.6m property in Manila’s Entertainment City development from its rightful owners into the gang’s control. The indictment also notes the gang’s extortion attempts and filing of false charges intended to intimidate those attempting to expose the full extent of their crimes.

Needless to say, this story is far from over and CalvinAyre.com will continue to provide updates as they become available.

Late Thursday afternoon, local police raided the Bodog Asia offices in Makati. Currently they have several employees sequestered in a boardroom asking for names and addresses.

It’s unclear who or what they are looking for as Bodog doesn’t provide any gaming offering to the Philippines, which would be in violation of their license with the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.

Initial reports suggest that this is a politically motivated attack orchestrated by the group of former employees, led by Swedish National Robert Gustafsson, who is currently under indictment for fraud and theft.

The timing is no coincidence as three more charges were laid today against Gustafsson, Sherwin Quiambao, Arleen Aldaba and Patrik Selin. The current charges stem from more findings in the ongoing forensic audit looking into the past dealings of Gustafsson et al. during their time with the Asian online gaming company.

We’ll provide more details as they become available.

As reported yesterday the local police raided the Bodog offices in Manila. We have more details to report.

The raid occurred at 4pm local time with a crew of about 12 unarmed, plain clothed police officers. Reports from people inside during the raid said that only four of the investigators had government issued identification. One person inside who was able to read the warrant said that the company was being accused of being involved in the local numbers game, known locally as the Jueteng.

Company officials released a statement to another news organization, “As you may have heard, Bodog Asia has been falsely accused of running a numbers game to residents of the Philippines (part of our license agreement is not to offer services to residents of the Philippines and, therefore, we do not). The local police are, however, obliged to follow up the accusation and we are, of course, fully cooperating with them to quickly clear up the situation. In the meantime, some of our services are, naturally, being disrupted as our staff helps the police. We are confident this issue will be resolved quickly with minimum disruption to our customers and we thank you for your patience.”

Some staff members were held in the offices for close to 8 hours for questioning but the first group of people was allowed to leave about four hours.

One Bodog executive who was in the office at the time of the raid said that he’s very proud of his staff, they all handled the incident remarkably well. He told me that they ordered about $400 worth of pizza and the staff played charades, foosball and continued to pack care packages for the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan which hit the central Philippine islands late last week.

One employee who didn’t want to be named told us that the police were “eating pizza and bumming smokes” during the 8-hour ordeal with one officer admitting he knew the raid was politically motivated.

The Bodog legal team is currently petition the courts to have the investigation thrown out and the company property returned.

3 More Charges against Robert Gustafsson

On the same day as the raids, three more charges were added to growing number of charges facing Robert Gustafsson, Sherwin Quiambao, Sylvia De Guzman and Arleen Aldaba because of the ongoing forensic audit of the company’s books during Gustafsson’s time at the helm.

The first two charges were for estafa or swindling. Much like the other fraudulent activity discovered by the audit team, these charges were laid because Gustafsson was submitting reimbursement receipts for his corporate credit card. The company was already paying for the card so no reimbursements were needed.

The third charge is another case of qualified theft.  Gustafsson, despite not having it as part of his employment package, was using corporate funds to pay for his teenage sons enrollment in the Manila International School, the Philippines most prestigious and expensive private schools.

As this was a personal liability, the board of directors was required to approve any use of corporate funds that were not for company business. Gustafsson never approached the board for approval but still submitted the bill to former CFO Aldaba for reimbursement. Aldaba would then blindly request for the issuance of corporate check for Gustafsson from Quiambao and De Guzman. The latter two would issue and sign the check.

The audit team says they have just scratched the surface but the amounts already stolen by Gustafsson have already topped a quarter of a million dollars.  The audit team speculated that total would be in the millions. More charges are expected to come in the next week.

You can read the full indictments here in PDF 13k4279; 13k4280 and 13k4281.

Sources have told CalvinAyre.com that last week’s raids on Bodog’s offices in Manila were sparked by false accusations filed by three former employees. The three ex-employees – Jan Robert Gustafsson (pictured), Sherwin Quiambao and Robbie Grewal – reportedly used their local partners to feed a judge unfounded allegations that Bodog was operating illegally in the Philippines. Despite the fact that Gustafsson and his allies are themselves the subject of an ongoing criminal prosecution in the Philippines, the judge authorized the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to exercise a search warrant on the Bodog property.

Bodog staff have assured CalvinAyre.com that the company has always conducted operations in strict accordance with the terms of its license agreements with the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the First Cagayan online gambling regulatory body. Bodog staff categorically rejected any suggestion that the company had ever offered illegal underground numbers games to Philippine nationals. The staff said the Bodog legal team had quickly reasserted control of the premises and was in the process of having the illegal gambling allegations dismissed.

Gustafsson, Grewal and Quiambao are claiming to be with online payment processing company transact24 but the company denies any association. Gustafsson was dismissed from his Bodog position earlier this year, after which a global internal audit revealed financial irregularities that led the filing of charges against Gustafsson and two other former employees. Prior to his dismissal, Bodog staff said Gustafsson had exhibited symptoms of what’s known in the industry as Manila Rock Star syndrome, which may have led him to believe he was entitled to bankroll the launch of his own company using someone else’s money.

GUSTAFSSON’S SMEARS EXPOSED AS FABRICATIONS
On Monday, Gustafsson is booked to appear on Philippine journalist Erwin Tulfo’s TV5 program, where Gustafsson is expected to continue his smear campaign against Bodog and Calvin Ayre, the founder of the Bodog brand. Industry sources say that Gustafsson has hired a PR firm to spread wild claims about Ayre – including allegations of kidnap and rape – in a bid to distract attention away from Gustafsson’s own charges, the number of which are growing by the week.

For the record, the woman at the heart of these claims has since filed a legal statement with the Office of the City Prosecutor in Makati City to the effect that the allegations against Ayre have no basis in truth, and that she had been coerced by Gustafsson and his associates to make the claim. Since recanting her earlier statement, this woman’s family has been subjected to threats and intimidation from Gustafsson’s associate Sylvia de Guzman, who is already facing charges over a threat to cut out a bank teller’s tongue during a failed attempt to withdraw funds from a Bodog corporate bank account.

Probably the most salacious aspects of Robert Gustafsson’s ongoing smear campaign against his former employer Bodog were the kidnap and rape allegations made against Bodog brand founder Calvin Ayre. The mere whiff of sexual impropriety among the rich and famous is media catnip, capable of temporarily eroding editors’ critical faculties, a weakness Gustafsson (pictured far right) was apparently all too eager to exploit.

But as we’ll see, these allegations bear no resemblance to the truth and were filed for the sole purpose of deflecting attention away from the Gustafsson gang’s own criminal prosecutions, which include the embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from their former employer and the attempted theft of millions more.

The story began in August, when a female Bodog employee in the Philippines went AWOL, apparently to take up with Gustafsson’s posse of ex-Bodog malcontents. In September, this employee – whom we’ll call ‘Lily’ – filed two charges against Ayre for violating the country’s anti-rape laws. But just a month later, Lily reached out to some of her former colleagues who still worked for Bodog, claiming that (a) the charges she’d filed were bogus and (b) she was being kept under surveillance by Sylvia ‘Scissorhands’ de Guzman (pictured holding Teddy), another ex-employee who’d taken up with Gustafsson. Lily wanted to know if someone could help her escape Sylvia’s clutches.

Within 24 hours, Lily was sitting in a lawyer’s office, signing an affidavit confirming that her original claims against Ayre had been made under duress. Specifically, Lily stated that she had only filed the rape claim after being subjected to threats and intimidation by Sylvia. Lily confirmed that there was no truth to the rape charges and that she wished to have the charges dismissed.

The affidavit of retraction (full text listed below) states that after filing the original complaint, Lily “felt guilty, can’t sleep” and was “afraid of the judgement of the court and by God. I want to tell the truth.” Lily stated for the record that “I was never abused or raped by Calvin” and that the allegations in the original complaint “are all lies and void.” Lily extended “my sincere apology” to Ayre and to the prosecutor’s office “for my false allegations and lies.”

Lily explained her earlier decision to file the charges against Ayre as based on two factors: Sylvia had told her that “we are going to have a lot of money” if Lily agreed to file the rape charges, but Lily was also warned that “something bad will happen to me and my family if I will not do what [Sylvia] wants.”

THREATS PAR FOR THE COURSE
Lily’s affidavit was made on Friday, Oct. 11, but came too late to be filed with the Makati City prosecutor’s office. Over the course of that weekend, Lily received threatening phone calls from members of the Gustafsson gang warning her not to proceed with her plan. Lily also learned that Sylvia was at Lily’s mother’s house, refusing to leave until mom disclosed Lily’s whereabouts. Despite these threats, come Monday morning, Lily duly delivered her affidavit to the prosecutor’s office, where she swore to its legitimacy.

Sylvia’s penchant for issuing violent threats is quickly becoming the stuff of legend. She’s already been cited in a police report for having threatened to cut out the tongue of a bank employee who refused to assist Sylvia’s attempts to make unauthorized withdrawals from a Bodog corporate account in September. Regardless, Sylvia’s role in the bogus rape charges has left her liable for further legal action, as it is a crime in the Philippines to cause someone to make false accusations.

The rape and kidnap allegations aren’t the only nuisance suits Gustafsson, de Guzman et al have brought against Bodog and Ayre, who have also been accused of issuing grave threats, violating Philippine laws against estafa (swindling) and immigration issues. But as with the more sensational charges, these other allegations will in time be exposed as the desperate flailing of a gang whose poorly constructed house of cards is falling down around their heads.

Perhaps the full extent of the gang’s growing desperation comes via reports of Bodog staff recently receiving messages via Gustafsson’s personal Facebook profile threatening to publicly release sex tapes if Bodog didn’t back off its pursuit of legal action against Gustafsson et al. The Bodog staff that received these threats have told CalvinAyre.com that they’re at a loss for how to react, given the non-existence of such tapes. Perhaps Gustafsson hired James Cameron’s digital video editing team to superimpose other people’s heads onto the bodies in the videos he shot of himself during his Manila Rock Star phase? It might explain where all the money Gustafsson embezzled has gone, as he certainly isn’t spending it on getting sound legal advice.

Stay tuned to CalvinAyre.com for future updates on the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

AFFIDAVIT OF RETRACTION
I, [REDACTED] currently living in [REDACTED], do swear in accordance with the Law, is stating that:

1. On September 6, 2013, i signed a sworn statement in front of ACP Leilia R. Llanes. I filed complaint against Calvin Ayre or Calvin Wilson with two counts of violation of RA No 8353 or “Anti Rape Law of 1997″.

2. After i filed the complaint, I felt guilty, can’t sleep and bugged by my conscience, I was afraid of the judgement of the court and by God. I want to tell the truth.

3. I was only forced and it was against my will to swear in front of ACP Leilia R. Llanes and sign the sworn statement.

4. The truth is, I was only scared and forced by Sylvia Bernadette De Guzman to invent a complaint against Calvin. Sylvia told us that we are going to have a lot of money if I do that. I was also threatened by Sylvia that something bad will happen to me and my family if I will not do what she wants.

5. The truth is that I was never abused or raped by Calvin. The allegations in the Sworn Statement are all lies and void.

6. I want to extend my sincere apology to Calvin and to this Office for my false allegations and lies.

7. I am retracting and no longer interested to pursue the fake complaint against Calvin. I hereby request for its dismissal.

8. I made this statement to verify everything stated here is true and nothing but truth. I verify that I have read this and I was informed of my legal rights. I signed and submitted this statement without threats , force, and monetary promises just to do it.

In witness thereof I hereby sign this statement this 14th of October 2013, in Makati City.

Signed by: [REDACTED]

Legal paperwork has proven that the late-November raid on Bodog Asia’s Manila offices was instigated by none other than former Bodog Asia CEO Jan Robert Gustafsson and his Manila-based crime gang. At the time of the raid, Bodog Asia staffers were told by police on the scene that Gustafsson had been the catalyst for the intrusion, but CalvinAyre.com has since obtained a copy of the affidavit that was used to obtain the search warrant, which bears Gustafsson’s signature (see attached image). As in related nuisance cases filed by the gang who couldn’t shoot straight ­– Gustafsson, fellow Swede Patrik Selin and their mostly foreign associates ­– the wild allegations contained in the affidavit have virtually assured Gustafsson will add a perjury charge to the fraud, embezzlement, car theft and other charges he’s already facing.

Among the many howlers contained in Gustafsson’s affidavit, the highlight has to be his claim that he’d been acting as CEO of Bodog Asia for a full year before discovering that part of the business under his control involved gambling activity. In November 2012, Gustafsson claims to have overheard a Philippine call center agent talking to an overseas Bodog Asia customer who was having difficulty making a deposit. Gustafsson claimed to have used his Wallander-worthy powers of deduction to determine that the call involved online gambling.

Robert Gustafsson was shocked – shocked! – to find gambling going on.

Intrigued, Gustafsson claims to have confronted the call center employee, who confirmed that such customer service calls were a regular occurrence. Shocked ­– shocked! ­– by this discovery, Gustafsson concluded that Bodog Asia was a clever front for an online gambling operation, rather than the Ikea branch office Gustafsson believed he’d signed on to manage. The notion that Gustafsson had no idea he was running an online gambling company may go a long way toward explaining why he was so inept at his job, which led to his unceremonious dismissal for incompetence and suspicion of theft in March 2013.

Senior Bodog Asia staff have told CalvinAyre.com that other claims in Gustafsson’s affidavit, including the suggestion that Bodog Asia accepted wagers from Philippine residents, are so patently false that Gustafsson has left himself wide open for a conviction on perjury and libel charges.

Perhaps Gustafsson intends to continue to use his Mr. Magoo act as a defense, maybe by walking into a Manila police station over the next month or so, dirty and unshaven, claiming to have been suffering from amnesia for the past six months and asking to be legally excused from liability for any documents he may have signed while his brain was on sabbatical.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE
While Gustafsson’s ineptitude may have had its entertainment value, the damage of his gang’s assault has gone far beyond slurring the good name of Bodog Asia and Bodog brand founder Calvin Ayre. As far as master strategists go, let’s just say Wile E. Coyote is feeling a whole lot more positive about his overall performance after watching Gustfasson & Co. flail about like a baby with a nail-gun. Collateral damage has been high.

Gustafsson and his principal co-conspirators were international guests of the Philippines when they unleashed their plot late last year. They are rumored to be planning to flee the country, leaving behind a domestic industry facing questions about its future and employees wondering what they did to deserve this kind of shoddy treatment.

The Philippine online gambling industry has been a remarkable domestic success story that demonstrates what happens when the country’s savvy workforce is teamed with sustained international investment and a good legal framework. Years ago, the country had the foresight to enact a sensible regulatory environment and the result was a steady influx of Asian-facing companies offering good-paying white-collar employment to thousands of Philippine nationals.

But the actions of the Gustafsson gang have raised doubts about the wisdom of placing too large a business footprint in the Philippines. Companies are alarmed by the relative ease with which an alleged embezzler fired for incompetence managed to convince members of the legal system to stage a retaliatory raid on his former employer. Not all operators have Bodog Asia’s resources and thus might not be able to replace all their seized equipment on such short notice, leaving these operators unable to conduct business for an indeterminate period.

Discreet inquiries are now being made of other Asian jurisdictions as to which offer a safer harbor for company assets. Barring reassurances from the local government, companies are likely to institute a hiring freeze, possibly even make some precautionary belt-tightening measures.

Gustafsson may have been crap at running an online gambling company, but Bodog Asia staff told CalvinAyre.com that he did manage to successfully ingratiate himself with many employees by presenting a kindly father figure image. Still, Daddy Dearest either didn’t believe or didn’t care that his move against Bodog Asia and Calvin Ayre was bound to come up snake eyes, and those hundreds of employees with whom he’d supposedly bonded would be left wondering why Gustafsson had been so eager to gamble with their futures.

Adding insult to injury, CalvinAyre.com has learned that Gustafsson and Sylvia De Guzman – the Spanish-American ‘Bonnie’ to Gustafsson’s Swedish ‘Clyde’ ­– are currently the subjects of tax audits by the Philippines’ Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). So not only were these foreigners willing to jeopardize the jobs of hundreds of Philippine citizens ­– and the thousands of dependents associated with those jobs ­– via their brazen attempt to line their own pockets, they appear to have been equally cavalier about honoring their tax obligations to their host nation. Seriously, invite this power couple to your next dinner party and there’s a good chance they’ll vomit on the carpet while attempting to diddle your significant other.

HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE NOBODY
While the Philippine government has numerous reasons to take issue with Gustafsson’s actions, the gang’s botched heist has irritated one particular member of the establishment more than the others. It seems Gustafsson & Co. had managed to convince this power broker to advance them $3m to help set up their own online gambling company using Bodog Asia’s source code. But their backer has grown annoyed at the negative media attention the gang’s antics have generated and is now asking for his money back. So not only did the plotters fail to acquire their code, they now have to find a way to refund their backer in full. In possibly related news, did we mention that Gustafsson is planning on leaving the country for his native Sweden?

The potential loss of this political heavy’s support goes a long way toward explaining the aggressive PR campaign Gustafsson embarked upon in late-November. Faced with legal bills stretching out to the horizon and a sugar daddy serving notice of cutting his losses, Gustafsson opted for a Hail Mary mudslinging PR pass to attempt to extort money to pay his bills and restore the lifestyle to which he believes himself entitled. Not only did this desperation heave fall well short of its target, it left onlookers with the impression that the local online gambling industry was just shy of Murder Inc. on the criminal scale. This is bad for everyone in the industry and for the country as a whole.

Even assuming they’re capable of repaying their former backer’s advance, these ungrateful tourists face one of two outcomes: lengthy jail sentences for their criminal activities or a life on the lam with no hope of ever again setting foot on Philippine soil. Perhaps it’s no wonder Gustafsson rejects the notion that anyone else involved in this debacle might have a greater claim on the title ‘victim.’

Shortly after the first fraud charges were laid against Gustafsson, he personally messaged a former associate of mine here at CalvinAyre.com on Facebook, insisting that he – as one of the “good guys” in this story – would ultimately emerge unscathed, as the allegations of his impropriety were “just too crazy to believe.” Gustafsson appears to believe that if he says that often enough, it just might come true, proving once and for all that Gustafsson knows ‘crazy’ a whole lot better than most people.

We will continue to cover this “crazy” story as further news breaks, as this tale has more legs than a centipede, ensuring that we’ll still be talking about it for years to come.

The gang’s (mostly) all here – Robert Gustafsson, Sylvia de Guzman, Maria Arleen Aldaba, Jasmin Singh and Patrik Selin

The Selin-Gustafsson Gang’s seriocomic criminal capers against their former Bodog Asia employers continued this week with the dropping of two additional indictments against the gang that couldn’t steal straight. (Documents viewable at bottom of page.) Already facing a raft of charges including embezzlement of six-figure sums, fresh charges of estafa (swindling) and qualified theft have been laid against eleven individuals whose names will be getting very familiar to CalvinAyre.com readers by now.

The gang’s two titular members, Patrik Selin and Jan Robert Gustafsson, formerly headed up Bodog Europe and Bodog Asia respectively. Other names on the indictments include Sherwin Quiambao, Jasmin Singh, Anthony Arcilla, Rosemarie Fegueroa Frialde, Mariano Monteras, Mary Jane de Guzman, Edwin Rejano Erpe, Maria Arleen Aldaba and John Does and Jane Does.

But we begin our show with everyone’s favorite blade-wielding femme fatale, Sylvia “Scissorhands” Bernadette Gonzales de Guzman. In January 2013, Sylvia instructed a Bodog Asia bookkeeper to cut her a check for P900k (US $20k) to cover duties on several vehicles Bodog was importing into the country. The check, made out in Sylvia’s name, was duly signed by CFO Maria Arleen Aldaba and their other accomplices and deposited into Sylvia’s personal bank account.

By May, the vehicle duties remained unpaid and Sylvia was being cagey whenever the company asked about the holdup, er, delay. In July, the affidavit says Sylvia admitted pocketing the $20k and instructed a bookkeeper to hide the paper trail. By September, right around the time Sylvia threatened to cut out a banker’s tongue if she didn’t approve an unauthorized withdrawal from a Bodog Asia corporate account, Sylvia was joking that auditors were welcome to any money they could find.

SHARED BED, RIGGED BID
The second half of our affidavit double feature ups the ante with a bigger cast of schemers after vastly bigger stakes… Hell, there’s even a romantic subplot.

On April 29, 2013, then-Bodog Asia director Jasmin Singh signed a contract with NVSP Construction and Development Inc. The contract, to set up two floors of a Manila high-rise as an office space, was worth just shy of P95m ($2.1m). Bodog Asia policy required all contracts over US $100k to be approved by the board, but Jasmin made the executive decision that such approval was unnecessary in this case, despite the fact that she was only authorized to approve purchasing up to $1k.

Four days later, with Sylvia, Quiambao and the usual suspects assisting along the way, the contractor received an upfront payment of P40m ($879k). On May 9, Jasmin approved further payment of P7.5m ($165k), again without obtaining board approval. The payments were also made despite NVSP having failed to post a performance bond, something Bodog Asia policy required for the sums to be released.

NVSP is owned by Noel Vincent S. Piccio, with whom Sylvia had an undisclosed live-in relationship at the time. Bodog Asia learned this fact when it moved to cancel NVSP’s contract due to dissatisfaction with their work. A Bodog source said the company promised not to audit NVSP’s work provided they return the unused portion of the deposit and any materials purchased, but Piccio insisted on being paid for the remainder of the contract. At this point, Piccio let slip his association with Sylvia, clearly under the impression – much like the Denver Broncos – that he was on the winning team.

Selin calls the tune and munchkins like Robbie Grewal (left) and Sherwin Quiambao (right) dance.

OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD? YOU CAN’T MISS HIM

If anyone wonders how Selin and Gustafsson got their names associated with these charges, it’s because they’re accused of occupying the upper rungs of the conspiracy seeking to defraud Bodog Asia via these and other antics. The gang of former Bodoggers aspired to open its own online gambling and US-facing payment processing company in the Philippines but they lacked the necessary funds, so instead of stealing a box of Bodog Asia pens like normal employees, they decided to use those pens to write massive checks to which they weren’t entitled.

And when they got caught with their fingers in the pie, Gustafsson provided police with the falsehoods that led to the raid on Bodog Asia’s offices last November. The gang has gone as far as to physically intimidate junior members into making wild accusations against Bodog Asia staff and suppliers, only to have those members recant their accusations once they were at a safe distance.

A woman stealing from her boss and sharing the cash with her boyfriend (and mother, as it turns out) is a classic film noir set-up, but the film this bizarre scenario most recalls is The Wizard of Oz. You’ve got a bunch of wicked witches screaming about how they’re going to get that little (Bo)dog, a cowardly lion hiding behind them and no shortage of munchkins gone bad. Meanwhile, the wizardly Patrik Selin watches all from behind the curtain, working the levers, apparently convinced his ample silhouette has gone undetected. Think again.

Word has it that there are literally hundreds more cases coming down the pipe and that this drama, in keeping with the slow march of Philippine justice, will continue to unfold for years to come. Even Sylvia’s mother, Flora Gonzales de Guzman, is now rumored to be a major co-conspirator and is expected to be indicted soon, as is Sylvia’s now ex-boyfriend, Noel Vincent S. Piccio. We will continue to cover this story as it breaks.

Contracting-indictment

Import duty theft

It was a very unlucky day for Essex-born Patrick McCullough, 54, who had to be rescued by paramedics last Friday after his penis became stuck in a fruit machine.

This bizarre incident, reported by Roulette.co.uk, occurred at a bookmaker in Hornchurch, Essex at approximately 8PM on March 28. According to the manager of the premises (who asked not to be named) Mr McCullough fell afoul of an anti-theft mechanism, built into all adaptive logic UK slot machines as standard.

“It was definitely a career first for me,” the manager commented. “One minute he was raving like a lunatic and the next he’d stuck his ‘wotsit’ in the machine. You couldn’t make it up!”

OXOuch! 

Mr McCullough allegedly staggered into the bookmaker while visibly intoxicated and proceeded to get into an altercation with security.

In a statement, Ms. Patricia Staker, 38 (who was present at the bookmaker on Friday) said she was “traumatised” by the events she witnessed.

“After the cashier man told him [McCullough] to clear off, that’s when he really started getting nasty.”

McCullough’s behaviour apparently took a turn for the worse after he was asked to leave, culminating in an indecent assault on a nearby fruit machine.

“He just dropped his pants and launched himself at this machine,” Ms. Staker recalled. “For a while he seemed to be enjoying himself, until we heard this ‘chunk’ noise and he started wailing like a guillotine had come down on him. Served him right.”

A bell and two cherries

Paramedics who arrived on the scene were forced to act quickly with an angle grinder and K-Y jelly to prevent irreparable damage to Mr McCullough.

A statement from hospital management stated that their patient had undergone a “harrowing experience” and requested that the press respect his privacy at this difficult time: “In the case of such a sensitive injury, we believe it is necessary to consider [Mr McCullough’s] dignity and wellbeing all else.”

The fruit machine has been permanently decommissioned. The manufacturer, Fruity Bell Games, have pledged to review the security measures installed in their products to prevent such occurrences in future.

In a press release, Fruity Bell admitted that the machine’s security mechanism should never have permitted anything larger than a coin: “Obviously we tend to work with averages, but people come in all shapes and sizes and our safety protocols need to reflect that.”

McCullough is currently in recovery and has, as-yet, declined to comment on this incident.

Should the bookmaker in question choose to pursue legal action, he could face up to a year in prison for indecent exposure.

Some scenarios are simply too ridiculous to comprehend. Like letting notorious lip-syncher Britney Spears select principal singers for the Metropolitan Opera. Or putting that misogynist madman from Boko Haram in charge of choosing Cosmopolitan’s Woman of the Year. Or taking the word of indicted fraudster Jan Robert Gustafsson that the applicant you’re considering for a job is truly a mild-mannered engineer from Stockholm, rather than a sociopathic grifter looking to rob your company blind.

As unlikely it may seem, the latter scenario has a basis in fact, as Gustafsson has somehow conned his way onto the board of Swedish recruiting agency TNG. The firm, which charges companies £8k to do background checks on job candidates, apparently didn’t feel the need to vet the members of its own board, or else sees no problem with a man indicted for stealing from his former employer being allowed to pass judgment on the probity of others.

TNG touts its ability to “look beyond the obvious,” which must explain why it was able to look beyond Gustafsson’s multiple indictments in the Philippines relating to his former role with Bodog Asia, the company that fired Gustafsson for incompetence in early 2013. An audit subsequently discovered that Gustafsson and a number of former Bodog Asia employees had conspired to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars and had attempted to steal millions more before the company got wise to their plot.

Gustafsson’s résumé on the TNG website lists his former marketing role with Swedish newspaper Metro while making no mention whatsoever of his Bodog Asia tenure, but it’s hard to believe TNG could have missed the gap in Gustafsson’s employment record. TNG may not have a problem with Gustafsson, but what faith can TNG’s prospective clients have in any company that would hire a man who knowingly filed a false affidavit to cause trouble for his former employer, thereby putting the jobs of the company’s hundreds of employees at risk, all to shift the authorities’ focus away from his own legal difficulties?

We wanted to learn whether TNG was aware of Gustafsson’s Asian escapades before they invited him into their boardroom, but they declined to respond to CalvinAyre.com’s inquiries. Regardless of whether TNG had previous knowledge of Gustafsson’s past, they can no longer claim ignorance of same, meaning if Gustafsson is allowed to remain on their board, TNG’s reputation for vetting job candidates will look about as legitimate as having 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed serve as jury foreman at the trial of the Boston Marathon bomber.

Jay Cohen, co-founder of defunct online gambling site World Sports Exchange (WSEX), is reportedly about to be sued by a disgruntled bettor. For those who might not be aware or who may have purged WSEX’s tortured existence from their memories, the site shut down last April after publicly admitting what its customers had known for years: it didn’t have the money to pay them. Within weeks of this announcement, WSEX co-founder Steve Schillinger was dead by his own hand, while Cohen chose the more difficult option of continuing to look at his own reflection in the mirror each morning.

Earlier this month, online betting affiliate Gambling911 reported that an Ohio man (artist’s impression pictured, holding utensil) had hired investigators to sniff out assets he believes Cohen spirited away in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands long before WSEX’s ‘withdrawal’ button became purely decorative. The Ohio bettor, who claims to have lost $70k when WSEX finally gave up the ghost, is hoping to connect with other WSEX customers to sue Cohen, although G911 declined to specify on what grounds. Nonpayment of debts? Fraud? Felonious ratbastardism?

Even if the outraged Ohioan can’t find Cohen’s hidden millions, the hope is that exposing his whereabouts could provide US authorities with sufficient cause to haul Cohen’s bulbous buttocks back to jail. Back around the turn of the millennium, Cohen spent 17 months in US federal prison after voluntarily returning to US shores in the misguided belief that he couldn’t possibly have violated the Wire Act because he was much too fat to be a tightrope walker. Following his release, Cohen gave an interview to CNBC in which he publicly admitted violating his parole conditions via his continued involvement with WSEX.

Despite Cohen’s prodigious belly and multiple chins, the chances of anyone spotting his ample silhouette on the horizon are slim. Cohen’s current low profile is a sharp turnaround from WSEX’s heyday in the late 1990s, when Cohen spent most of his workday cruising online gambling forums, badmouthing other operators for their alleged “lack of integrity.” The irony, much like the hog fat Cohen is probably licking off his fingers right this second, is delicious.

Accused con man Jan Robert Gustafsson has fled the Philippines after reportedly being fired from his position with online payment processor Transact24 Philippines aka T24PH. (For the record, this firm has no official connection to the Hong Kong-based Transact24 firm, on whose good name the Philippines-based company is attempting to piggyback.)

On Wednesday afternoon, Gustafsson (pictured, in blue) was spotted boarding Air Philippines flight 306 from Manila to Hong Kong, although his followup destination couldn’t be immediately confirmed. Days earlier, Gustafsson had been advertising the fire sale of one of his luxury cars via social media, apparently in a bid to raise some quick cash to help fund his flight from justice.

For those in the dark, Gustafsson was the former head of Bodog Asia who attempted to embezzle millions of dollars from his former employer after being unceremoniously fired for gross incompetence. Gustafsson and a small army of turncoat lieutenants reportedly bribed a local judge into signing a warrant authorizing a raid on Bodog Asia’s offices last November that failed to turn up any evidence to support Gustafsson’s allegations. Gustafsson was subsequently indicted for fraud and the gang that couldn’t shoot straight has been unsuccessfully attempting to cover their tracks ever since.

Until recently, Gustafsson had been helping to try and get T24PH off the ground with Karl Rosengren, who co-founded the original Transact24 but was forced out by co-founder Philip Meyer. T24PH had been enjoying the generous financial support of a local political heavyweight and a man with a reputation for not taking kindly to scammers. The ex-politician had his daughter monitoring the day-to-day activities of T24PH and apparently, at least as it relates to Gustafsson, daddy’s girl didn’t like what she saw. CalvinAyre.com will have more details on this development in coming days.

Gustafsson’s skedaddle will put further pressure on his partners in crime – Rosengren, Patrik Selin, Sylvia ‘Scissorhands’ de Guzman and others – to make their own dash for safety, likely to countries with which they already hold valid passports. But escaping the Philippines doesn’t mean escaping their legal liabilities. The raids on Bodog Asia’s offices were only possible because the gang members reportedly bribed a local judge and police, and most countries have strict laws on their books against bribery of foreign officials. Watch this space…

The Philippine-based criminal conspiracy headed by former Bodog Asia head Jan Robert Gustafsson has been brought to its knees after arrest warrants were issued for Gustafsson and his principal co-conspirators. Gustafsson, Sylvia De Guzman and Sherwin Quiambao are wanted on charges of qualified theft of over US $160k from the company at which they formerly worked. The theft represents but one example of the host of charges already filed and in the process of being filed as the investigation of the gang’s activities continues.

The warrants – issued on Sept. 29 by Presiding Judge Ronald B. Moreno in the Regional Trial Court in Makati City – stipulate that the defendants are to be held without bail. The restriction reflects the authorities’ concern that the trio are serious flight risks and – given De Guzman’s previous threats of violence against unhelpful bank executives – a danger to society at large. (View the individual warrants for Gustafsson, De Guzman and Quiambao by clicking on their names.)

Unfortunately, Gustafsson appears to be the only one of the accused who remains in the Philippines. Gustafsson fled the country in August but made an ill-advised decision to return to Manila on September 4 following a brief visit to London. His whereabouts are currently unknown but a nationwide manhunt is underway and immigration officials have been alerted to prevent his departure via all official exit points.

De Guzman appears to have used her influence to convince local court clerks to drag their feet in certifying the warrants, giving her just enough time to flee the country. Officials with the National Bureau of Intelligence (NBI) – the Philippine equivalent of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence – have confirmed that De Guzman flew to Singapore on Philippine Airlines flight PR 511 on Oct. 1. De Guzman holds US and Spanish citizenship, making these countries likely high on her list of potential sanctuaries.

Quiambao is a Canadian citizen who fled the Philippines on Sept. 19. He is believed to be laying low in Hong Kong or possibly Vancouver. A separate warrant has been issued for the arrest of Edwin Rejano Erpe, who stands accused of stealing a vehicle belonging to his former employer to help facilitate the Gustafsson gang’s activities. Erpe is believed to still be in the Philippines.

The Philippine authorities are in the process of securing global INTERPOL ‘red’ notices to ensure there’s no safe corner of the planet for Gustafsson, De Guzman and the gang’s other international members. In the meantime, anyone with knowledge of the whereabouts of any of these individuals is urged to contact CalvinAyre.com so that the responsible authorities can be alerted.

NO RECEIPT, NO SALE
The saga of the Gustaffson gang’s attempts to grift their way through the Philippines has been detailed at length on CalvinAyre.com. Gustafsson, along with the aforementioned accused and other members of his crew – including former Bodog Europe head Patrik Selin – engaged in a massive conspiracy to steal from their former employer to fund the launch of their own online gambling business as well as an online payment processing company, Transact24 Philippines.

The arrest warrants relate to one specific element of the group’s plan to pick their employer’s pockets via an apparent kickback scheme. This theft, which occurred in April 2012, saw Gustafsson and his accomplices approve a US $160k payment to Casino Management Group Inc. (CMGI), allegedly to cover costs stemming from a feasibility study of building a brick-and-mortar casino in the Clark Freeport Zone northwest of Manila. De Guzman and Quiambao served as signatories on the payment, acting on Gustafsson’s instructions.

But the payment was made without the approval of the owners of the company for which the trio worked. Also, payment was made not to CMGI but to a Jose Luis Yulo Jr. Finally, the defendants were unable to produce any documentation to support the notion that CMGI was owed anything; no corresponding contract, no demand for payment for CMGI, nor any evidence that CMGI had performed any work or incurred any expenses on the casino project.

In Gustafsson’s counter-affidavit, he failed to provide any justification for why CMGI was owed the $160,338, nor how this figure was arrived at. The best Gustafsson could come up with was to say the payment was made “in recognition that CMGI may have incurred some expense during the discussions to date.” [Emphasis added.] Judge Moreno concluded that the court couldn’t find “a semblance of validity to the alleged transaction” or “even just a shadow” of the claimed feasibility study.

Moreno said the conditions existed for the trio’s actions to be considered a conspiracy. Gustafsson had ordered the payment “unquestionably without specific approval or corresponding Board Resolution” from the company whose money he was doling out. The individual affidavits filed by De Guzman and Quiambao indicate that they acted on Gustafsson’s orders, making them complicit in the conspiracy.

In June, Gustafsson, De Guzman and Quiambao had managed to induce a local judge to dismiss the theft charges, but prosecutors promptly filed a motion for reconsideration of this order. On Sept. 29, Judge Moreno ruled that there was sufficient cause to reopen the proceedings and the warrants were issued. (Read Moreno’s order reopening the proceedings here.)

LESSONS LEARNED TOO LATE
Gustafsson’s downfall is a valuable case study of how not to conduct a criminal conspiracy. For starters, if you’re neck-deep in dirty dealings, don’t conduct a media tour in which you raise your profile even higher by making wild but easily disprovable accusations against your former employer.

Gustafsson’s fall also demonstrates the dangers of succumbing to ‘Manila rock star syndrome,’ the neo-colonial tendency of Western businessmen to assume that just because they earn vastly more than the Philippine staffers who do most of the grunt work, they are somehow not bound by local laws and customs.

This lack of empathy for his subordinates was on full display when Gustafsson knowingly provided false information to Philippine authorities to convince them to raid Bodog Asia’s offices in search of evidence he knew didn’t exist. Gustafsson may have failed in his attempt to intimidate Bodog Asia into withdrawing their charges against him, but he succeeded in scaring the hell out of the company’s rank-and-file staff, many of which were held against their will until police realized they’d been sent on a wild goose chase.

Gustafsson used to pride himself on his sensitivity to Asian customs, bragging about how his first order of business upon being granted the Bodog Asia job was to remodel his office to bring it more in line with Asian concepts of feng shui. He’ll find that task a lot more complicated in his Philippine jail cell, where the fixtures are bolted to the floor.

CalvinAyre.com will provide further updates on this saga as they develop.

Erstwhile online gambling industry figure Jan Robert Gustafsson woke up Sunday morning with a bounty on his head. Gustafsson and two co-conspirators – Sylvia Bernadette de Guzman and Sherwin Quiambao – are currently wanted on charges of estafa aka qualified theft for stealing US $160k from their former employer. The arrest warrants, issued on Sept. 29 by Judge Ronald B. Moreno in the Regional Trial Court in Makati City, stipulate that the three fugitives are not to be allowed bail.

On Sunday, a notice (pictured above) was placed in the Manila Times’ Sunday edition authorizing payment of P100k ($2,225) to anyone who can provide information that will help bring these three fugitives to justice. A similar notice appeared in Monday’s edition of Business World. The notices, each spanning three-quarters of the page, appeared in the front sections of the newspapers to ensure maximum visibility.

Any person with knowledge of the fugitives’ whereabouts is urged to contact local authorities immediately. Contact numbers have been established at the National Bureau Of Investigation, the Office of the Chief of Police (OCP) of Makati City and the Makati Philippine National Police Warrant Section. Confidentiality is assured to anyone who comes forward. (Contact numbers are visible in the reward notice reproduced in full at the bottom of this page.)

Beginning Monday, volunteers began distributing the reward notices in physical form at specific locations the fugitives are known to frequent. At least 2k copies detailing the bounties will be handed out in the Burgos Street red-light district and at the Rockwell Center in Makati, the Bonifacio Global City clubs in Taguig and within Quezon City.

De Guzman and Quiambao are suspected of having fled the country before the warrants were issued. Gustafsson’s whereabouts remains a mystery, although scuttlebutt has him holed up in some secret hideout with a couple working girls he knows from Cebu. Should any of the fugitives be deluded enough to remain in the Philippines, their world just got a whole lot smaller and their capture a matter of when, not if.

JAN ROBERT ESTAFASSON’S REIGN OF ERROR MUST END
The warrants were issued after Judge Moreno found the trio had attempted to divert money from the company at which they worked to a third party, yet failed to produce evidence justifying the payment. Judge Moreno said he couldn’t find “a semblance of validity to the alleged transaction” or “even just a shadow” of the feasibility study this third party was supposed to have conducted.

These specific charges represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of both the volume of charges pending and the amount of money purloined by the trio and their co-conspirators, who include former Bodog Europe chief Patrik Selin, Jasmin Singh, Maria Arleen Aldaba, Anthony Arcilla, Sukhjap ‘Robbie’ Singh Grewal, Edwin Erpe and others,

The gang has been causing mayhem in the Philippines ever since Gustafsson was fired from Bodog Asia for incompetence in early 2013. A forensic audit subsequently uncovered evidence that the gang had carried out a calculated program of misappropriating cash and technology to fuel the startup of their own online payment processing company, Transact24 Philippines.

Since being uncovered, the gang has attempted to drag their former company’s name through the dirt in a bid to throw police off the trail. This included Gustafsson knowingly providing false evidence to justify a police raid on his former employer in November 2013. The raid uncovered no wrongdoing but scared the hell out of the staff, for whom Gustafsson liked to claim he served as a benevolent father figure.

Gustafsson’s subsequent press tour, during which he regaled interviewers with tales of parties and mayhem other than his own, painted the entire Philippine-based online gambling industry in a negative light. It was a desperate play, burning his bridges with the industry in the vain hope of getting the police to turn their attention away from himself. But Gustafsson’s Hail Mary pass failed to find its target and now the clock has run out.

Investigators haven’t yet finished charting the full extent of the Gustafsson’s gang illegal activities but many more charges will be issued in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned to CalvinAyre.com for continued coverage of this gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

The first arrest has been made of a Gustafsson gang member. Low-level driver Edwin Rejano Erpe was arrested for carnapping. The charges, first was filed a year ago, allege that Erpe kept a motorbike without permission from his former Bodog employers.

The theft of the motorbike was the thread that undid the conspiracy. When the thread was pulled, it uncovered a team of former employees conspiring to defraud the gambling giant out of millions of dollars.

Erpe was able to secure the Php180,000 bail money to not sit in a jail cell until his trial, although he is barred from international travel.

It’s possible that the Php180,000 came from the Php200,000 that Sylvia De Guzman promised Erpe to betray his former employer, steal the motorbike, run errands and join the cabal of criminals.

Erpe faces 14 years and 8 months in prison for the theft of the motorbike if convicted. The country is especially hard on vehicular theft, considering the bike cost only $600, 15 years in prison is a long time to think about his decision to join the Gustafsson crime family.

More Charges Piling Up

The charges against the Gustafsson gang continue to pile up as Rosemarie Fegueroa Frialde and her boyfriend Mario Canasares Monteres (known as Rose and Mar) now face perjury charges for filing false police reports in connection to the smear campaign the group was running during their initial wave of criminality.

When the statements were retracted, it opened the pair up to the perjury charges.

Rose and Mar don’t have the financial means to leave the country or go on an extended vacation like the masterminds so it’s expected the pair will be picked up by police sooner rather than later to answer to the charges.

Still on the Run

While Erpe was able to make bail, Robert Gustafsson, Sherwin Quiambao and Sylvia De Guzman’s arrest warrants are all non-bailable offenses so they will be sitting in a jail cell until their eventual trial once they are apprehended.

The thought of sitting in a Philippine jail cell for months and eventually the rest of their lives if convicted is likely the reason all three are in hiding, leaving a low-level driver to face the brunt of the Philippine justice system alone for the crimes devised and poorly executed by the group.

Sylvia De Guzman is thought to have escaped the Philippines before the arrest warrants were issued.

Robert Gustafsson’s whereabouts is unknown but he is believed to still be somewhere in the Philippines but has the means to escape via fishing vessel or some other underground route.

Sherwin Quiambao, originally believed to have been outside of the country when the arrest warrants were issued but rumors suggest that he has inexplicably returned to the country.

There is still a 100,000php reward offered for information leading to the arrests of Quiambao, Gustafsson and De Guzman. If you have information please contact the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (02) 521-9208, the Office of the Chief of Police of Makati (02) 843-5851 or Makati PNP Warrant Section (02) 843-9878.