Affactive and Revenue Jet closing - owners facing jail!

[KasinoKing]

Just found out about this via Affiliate Gaurd Dog.

Apparently the 2 owners of these 2 groups are... well... in deep shit!

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Other affiliates have said they have received e-mails advising that the programs are closing immediately and not to refer any more players.
I guess we will know for sure in a few days time if these stories are true or just rumours...

As a reminder, the groups are:
Affactive Casinos:
Begado (NuWorks)
Casino Titan (RTG)
Golden Cherry (Rival)
Slots of Fortune (Rival)
Jackpot Grand (RTG)
Slots Jungle (RTG)
WinPalace (RTG)

Revenue Jet Casinos:
Classy Coin (RTG)
Grand Parker (RTG)
Loco Panda (RTG)
On Bling (RTG)
Ruby Royal (Rival)

{Edit} I just got the e-mail too (I'm on their mailing list because I did used to promote them before they turned really bad)

Hi Mark,

Please do not send us traffic as from now on.
Affactive will close its operations as of now.
You can reach me for a short while on this email or by Skype.
I am sorry the way it ends, something out of our control.
I am sure it must be on the forum by now. Get back to me I'll tell you more.
All accounts have been frozen, salaries, affiliates commissions, etc. I don't know if we'll be able to release any funds

Regards,
Eric

KK

 

[winbig]

Sounds like they're linked, but honestly, I'd love to see some more proof besides a 1 paragraph article....with no concrete details/evidence...

 

[KasinoKing]

Sounds like they're linked, but honestly, I'd love to see some more proof besides a 1 paragraph article....with no concrete details/evidence...

The e-mail I got was definitely from Affactive.
I've met Eric in person several times - the last time being just a month ago at the Amsterdam Conference.

KK

 

[Mousey]

I know nuttin about who owns what casino/affiliate thingys, but if you google Gery Shalon Ziv Orenstein you'll find Bloomberg and WSJ (among others) articles with a bit more info.

 

[milemaster]

The e-mail I got was definitely from Affactive.
I've met Eric in person several times - the last time being just a month ago at the Amsterdam Conference.

KK

I wonder if they were shut down or if they took their casinos down themselves? The affactive site is up, but none of their casino sites are responding as of now.

 

[winbig]

The e-mail I got was definitely from Affactive.
I've met Eric in person several times - the last time being just a month ago at the Amsterdam Conference.

KK

I mean more proof in regards to being tied to online gambling and stuff...the only thing that paragraph does is insinuate that they may be tied together....

found some other sites with very little information, but the consensus seems to be:

U.S. authorities are also conducting an investigation into the illegal online gambling platform. Charges are yet to be filed in relation to the Internet gambling matter.

 

[syntynyt]

i don't think they would have been bothered by USA authorities if not linked to the hacking of JPMorgan. i will follow the case to see if 'illegal gambling platform' weighs much and if holy land will grant extradition . if online gambling presence in the US is considered aggravate felony why they don't fight the cause and not the effect.
i must say that reading the title i thought they are finally punished for stealing deposits and genuine winnings. but by who?
in the meantime lets find Playtech roots for possibilities to correlate similar bad habits and behavior. :sniper:

 

[The Dude]

I know nuttin about who owns what casino/affiliate thingys, but if you google Gery Shalon Ziv Orenstein you'll find Bloomberg and WSJ (among others) articles with a bit more info.

Well I know - and most people who do know have been quiet for some time. This is the infamous "Gabi" who owned the Affactive group to include RevenueJet - he employed hackers (who were partners with Rushmore casino btw) who had hacked into and stole just about every RTG database, ddos attacked most everyone in the business to include Casinomeister, and tried to extort money from people. The list goes on.

This is a classic case of Schadenfreude. You reap what you sow.

I have kept my mouth shut for the past several years because I've been warned "you don't mess with these guys", and I am one who chooses his battles. But one thing I have done is warn players and affiliates for the past several years that these guys are no good.

Any affiliate who has been promoting these guys - it's your own damn fault that you chose to ignore the signs - and my warnings. Tough titty for you if you don't get paid - you should have known better. Players who are screwed right now - you should chastise the affiliate who sent you into that den of snakes - and then kick yourself for being so stupid. You should have listened to Casinomeister.

Gaby (Gery Shalon) is the guy.

Here's the link from the FBI which details the separate charges and the possible sentencing:

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This one here describes the hacking job in detail:

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[The Dude]

 

[The Dude]

I should add that the whole online casino aspect of things is peanuts compared to what this guy was into. He's facing hard time for manipulating penny stocks, hacking into millions of US bank accounts. The Affactive and RevenueJet companies were probably just a hobby for him.

Going further with this, it will be interesting to see how this affects other businesses - other online casino entities that he may have had a hand in.

 

[conker]

There is only one defense that can possibly work for this guy now.

 

[Balthazar]

It's been a few times now...and a few hints...so I'm going to ask it once for all:

Is Israel a hotbed for shady online gaming operations?

 

[The Dude]

It's been a few times now...and a few hints...so I'm going to ask it once for all:

Is Israel a hotbed for shady online gaming operations?

It seems that way, doesn't it? But it could just be a few bad apples...

Actually, this has been going on for some time now, and no one has been able to do a thing. Most operators put up with the database theft and ddos attacks because they were afraid. With a flick of a switch this asshole could shut down your business. And I'm willing to bet that there will be a few more ddos attacks down the road from this guy's "sleeper cells" just to show everyone that he's a big man.

The irony is that there were quite a few affiliates willing to promote these guys all the while knowing that they were shady. I wonder who will be the first to complain?

 

[maxd]

For those wanting a little documentation on this:

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Thanks to The Pogg for getting this to me.

 

[The Dude]

This guy had his hands in a number of "cookie jars". Every so often I'll get emails from disgruntled employees or shafted independent contractors complaining about who they work(ed) for. Sometimes I take these with a grain of salt, but sometimes a number of things ring true.

Here is a except from one of these emails from a couple years ago. This is about Affactive and RevenueJet:

...Now what is most troubling about this company is that they have several of their designers creating mimic (identical) websites of online travel companies, online stores, etc. and once people make a purchase, they steal their money and then take down the website. They open fake Paypal accounts to receive the payments and then close the account so they are untraceable...

 

[Biti]

I should add that the whole online casino aspect of things is peanuts compared to what this guy was into. He's facing hard time for manipulating penny stocks, hacking into millions of US bank accounts. The Affactive and RevenueJet companies were probably just a hobby for him.

Going further with this, it will be interesting to see how this affects other businesses - other online casino entities that he may have had a hand in.

I'm sure we've got some interesting months to go. More (rogue) brands will get affected by this.

 

[ThePOGG]

The irony is that there were quite a few affiliates willing to promote these guys all the while knowing that they were shady. I wonder who will be the first to complain?

I've [super big fat] ZERO [/super big fat] sympathy for affiliates that chose to work with this group. It was common knowledge how they treated their players, if affiliates got screwed in the process, well, the phrase 'what goes around comes around' springs to mind.

 

[ThePOGG]

And from the FBI -

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Looks like sentences of 20 years if found guilty......

 

[Biti]

I've [super big fat] ZERO [/super big fat] sympathy for affiliates that chose to work with this group. It was common knowledge how they treated their players, if affiliates got screwed in the process, well, the phrase 'what goes around comes around' springs to mind.

I really hope they will be affected too and part of the further investigation too. They choosed to be part of this and promoting this. Well, there they go.

 

[ThePOGG]

I really hope they will be affected too and part of the further investigation too. They choosed to be part of this and promoting this. Well, there they go.

Other than not receiving commissions there's no further implications for affiliates. The charges related to market manipulation and insider trading as I understand it. There nothing to do with their casino operations. The closure of the casinos - presuming that these are the people in charge of them - will be related to the freezing of their financial assets.

 

[Biti]

Other than not receiving commissions there's no further implications for affiliates. The charges related to market manipulation and insider trading as I understand it. There nothing to do with their casino operations. The closure of the casinos - presuming that these are the people in charge of them - will be related to the freezing of their financial assets.

I thought they've added the issues "illegal gambling" and "money laundering" to the prosecution? True that no affiliates will end up in jail. But, in my honest opinion some of they do deserve that.

 

[spoton]

Someone should tell them that if they plan on starting some kind of gambling operation from behind the bars, the other convicts may not accept that they won't get paid for not playing within the "spirit of the bonus" or whatever.

Hope they get sent to the US and get a nice sentence. Scamming people for their money is just the absolute low.

 

[Dinahnana]

Other than not receiving commissions there's no further implications for affiliates. The charges related to market manipulation and insider trading as I understand it. There nothing to do with their casino operations. The closure of the casinos - presuming that these are the people in charge of them - will be related to the freezing of their financial assets.

Good hopefully these awful casinos will stay closed. And I do hope that these guys get their just deserts in the form of a long sentence for their crimes. Total of eleven charges against Shalon and AAron. You know what they say Karma is a b*tch what goes around comes around and it looks like it's these guys turn.

 

[tomgalanis]

There are many shades of Schadenfreude. My favourite shade is that bright shade of red many shower dwellers in US jails have come to know and will eventually have to learn to love

 

[tomgalanis]

Other than not receiving commissions there's no further implications for affiliates. The charges related to market manipulation and insider trading as I understand it. There nothing to do with their casino operations. The closure of the casinos - presuming that these are the people in charge of them - will be related to the freezing of their financial assets.

Definitely a case of

 

[ThePOGG]

It's great to get confirmation on links between these groups. I'd already established something I felt was strongly indicative earlier this year;

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It's interesting how many links like this come up in the terms monitoring.....

 

[Mousey]

Just a side thought here.... I'm glad to see the US gov do something that takes wicked operators out. When they put the UIGEA into effect and the majority of excellent, reputable casinos pulled out of USA, the gov threw USA players to the wolves (with only a few 'good' USA facing casinos left) - so it's satisfying to see some the wolves go down.

 

[dunover]

It's been a few times now...and a few hints...so I'm going to ask it once for all:

Is Israel a hotbed for shady online gaming operations?

The fact Playtake hail from there says it all.

 

[Biti]

It's been a few times now...and a few hints...so I'm going to ask it once for all:

Is Israel a hotbed for shady online gaming operations?

Israeli government is taking apropiate action at least. Shalon is arrested and is taken into custody. That Aaron guy is still free... in Russia. Meanwhile it seems that good old Europe is doing nothing. As usual. That whole Malta license thing seems to be a farce, just like Gibraltar, UK, etc.

 

[The Dude]

Just a side thought here.... I'm glad to see the US gov do something that takes wicked operators out. When they put the UIGEA into effect and the majority of excellent, reputable casinos pulled out of USA, the gov threw USA players to the wolves (with only a few 'good' USA facing casinos left) - so it's satisfying to see some the wolves go down.

This is just happen chance. It so happens that the main guy arrested by the feds is the one who owns(ed) Affactive and RevenueJet - he is being charged with a number of things, but nothing to do with online gaming.

One thing that may come out of this - since he has ties to a number of hackers and ddos attackers, I'm sure he's going to cop to some plea by naming these folks. This is a great day for anyone who uses the Internet.

 

[tomgalanis]

One thing that may come out of this - since he has ties to a number of hackers and ddos attackers, I'm sure he's going to cop to some plea by naming these folks. This is a great day for anyone who uses the Internet.

Excellent shout. There's a good chance these guys know of, and hold evidence against, every major crook in Israel's cyberspace - not least iGaming.

This could become an AWESOME spectacle. Most splendid.

 

[milemaster]

Curgam Malta

Here's to hoping the scumbags at the Curgam Malta group are next. Those are pure criminals over there.

 

[spintee]

Will they just not buy them selfs out of it?

Money talks in this day and age & If they are as big as whats been said than surley unless they get extradited I see them walking with a amile

 

[BigSD]

I was still receiving promotional emails from Grand Parker and Slots Jungle yesterday. I tried to log in to Slots Jungle but I couldn't. So they were still sending offers when their site was down.

I had $2200 in Grand Parker too which I guess is gone forever.

 

[mattsgame]

This news, didn't really surprise me tbh.

The biggest thing for me about this, is the fact, that these guys also have 1000's of players personal details and I.D docs. Not really the kind of people I would want to have those o_O

 

[maxd]

Will they just not buy them selfs out of it?

There may be a difference between a guy running some online gambling sites getting pinched and then released after transferring his bank account to the DOJ VS guys like this with a shed-load of long-standing and serious criminal charges against them finally feeling the long arm of the law. Fingers crossed.

 

[Biti]

There may be a difference between a guy running some online gambling sites getting pinched and then released after transferring his bank account to the DOJ and guys like this with a shed-load of serious criminal charges against them finally feeling the long arm of the law. Fingers crossed.

Well, these ones for sure were not operating alone. The keyboard work was did by other ones who still could operate and I'm quite sure these three also might have had some "chef". It's interesting to see if they will talk in the USA. I guess they'll do.

 

[maxd]

... I'm quite sure these three also might have had some "chef".

One of them _is_ the "chef", been known to industry insiders as Public Enemy #1 for years. I believe Bryan has already pointed this out.

 

[KasinoKing]

I had $2200 in Grand Parker too which I guess is gone forever.

Ouch!

Complete and utter speculation here: Suppose the casinos were forced to stop operating because the FEDs ceased all the defendants' assets. There may come a time where those assets are sold to the highest bidder. These groups MUST have had a MASSIVE data-base of real players and potential players' information - maybe another group with enough money could buy it all up. They could then re-open some/all of the casinos, or just transfer the players to their existing brands. As part of the deal, creditors would have to be paid (i.e. staff and players who are owed money).
Probably EXTREMELY unlikely and it would probably take years anyway, but I think that's the only way players will see 1c of their money.

KK

 

[peterhanneman]

I should add that the whole online casino aspect of things is peanuts compared to what this guy was into. He's facing hard time for manipulating penny stocks, hacking into millions of US bank accounts. The Affactive and RevenueJet companies were probably just a hobby for him.

Going further with this, it will be interesting to see how this affects other businesses - other online casino entities that he may have had a hand in.

That's serious stuff. Hacking into bank accounts is a huge matter and I'm sure if the police have caught him, he's going down for a long, long time for doing such things. I didn't think he had been doing anything so serious.

 

[Simmo!]

Bayton / Conan posts moved to new thread to prevent derail

https://www.casinomeister.com/forum...sion-cut-from-affactive-thread.68437/?t=68437

 

[nisosbar]

Ouch!

Complete and utter speculation here: Suppose the casinos were forced to stop operating because the FEDs ceased all the defendants' assets. There may come a time where those assets are sold to the highest bidder. These groups MUST have had a MASSIVE data-base of real players and potential players' information - maybe another group with enough money could buy it all up. They could then re-open some/all of the casinos, or just transfer the players to their existing brands. As part of the deal, creditors would have to be paid (i.e. staff and players who are owed money).
Probably EXTREMELY unlikely and it would probably take years anyway, but I think that's the only way players will see 1c of their money.

KK

Why "EXTREMELY unlikely"? Wasn't the precedent for that set in the Full Tilt Poker fiasco, where Pokerstars bought FTP and paid players who were owed money?

 

[t4llek]

Why "EXTREMELY unlikely"? Wasn't the precedent for that set in the Full Tilt Poker fiasco, where Pokerstars bought FTP and paid players who were owed money?

not really, the ultimate bet/ absolute poker and the lockpoker/lockcasino say otherwise, lock is supposedly 15 million in debt towards players alone, ultimate bet was a much larger steal with rumours of up tp 50 M that players never saw a dime of, the full tilt case was well resolved because they were the 2nd largest operator in the business and because it had pokerstars finger in it ofc.

 

[The Dude]

... There may come a time where those assets are sold to the highest bidder. These groups MUST have had a MASSIVE data-base of real players and potential players' information - maybe another group with enough money could buy it all up...

It will never happen. The money was gained illegally - and the databases were stolen.

There is not a player who will be paid out - and affiliates can just blame their own stupidity for dealing with these guys. The writing was on the wall for a long enough time for everyone to bail. If you didn't, it's your own damn fault.

 

[justred]

The closure of the casinos - presuming that these are the people in charge of them - will be related to the freezing of their financial assets.

Which implies that the casino operations have been linked to them in some way or another. They may be extradited for one thing, but it won't take much for the DOJ and FBI to connect a few dots if they haven't already.

 

[The Dude]

Which implies that the casino operations have been linked to them in some way or another. They may be extradited for one thing, but it won't take much for the DOJ and FBI to connect a few dots if they haven't already.

The dots have been connected for some time. Here is the indictment from the DOJ:

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This gives the aliases and shell companies that these guys were using - some of which are mentioned here in this posting that Zanzibar made during the Topgame/Affactive meltdown of 2011:

https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/all-topgames-casinos-are-down-ddos-attacks.47338/

That's about all I have to say about this subject - except that these guys were pretty busy back then.

 

[spintee]

They sure using a hell of alot of names (aka)