redarmi Staking Issue: Sports betting

[pleno1]

Hi

In January I was approached by redarmi to invest in his sports betting bankroll. He told me how he had a house etc to pay for and he would be looking for backing until he was back on his own two feet. I knew little about sports betting but had made a list on my diary about wanting to make investments (why he messaged me)

He was looking for £30k and I asked arbboy who had known him for a long time and said he was "100% good for the money" and he would also get involved.

I was perhaps a little naive here, but it's tough when there's no sharkscope for sports betting. He was however a columnist and staff member at betting emporium so assumed he knew what he was doing and was well up to date with everything.

I sent the money and off we go. We were promised regular updates and although I didn't chase up on them they were anything but regular.

After a long time of no communication I sent multiple emails and then finally received this email.

Hi guys,

Unfortunately, a combination of the time pressures of my new role and some issues with bad debt mean that I am going to have to stop the stake.  Because I can't get on in my own name I have to trust other people to help me getting the bets on and two of them are not currently paying me and holding almst 20k between.  One of them is a fairly well known poker player and I am fairly confident that in the medium term he will pay me but the other is a female friend of a friend and isn't responding  to any communication at all.  I feel fairly stupid to have not followed my own rules to minimise this kind of situation and am going to take full responsibility for paying everyone back whilst I continue to chase these two but obviously I don't have those kind of funds at hand so that may take me some time.  In the meantime I am going close off the remaining loose ends and will return those funds I do have hopefully by the end of this month.

I think the best way to proceed is to sort out the remaining money and then when I send that towards the end of the month I will reassess where we are in terms of the bad debt and if neccesary will arrange a payment plan with you all individually then.

Finally, I am aware that Mark and Jon vouched for me with this and feel as though I have let them down a bit and hope you won't let it reflect badly on them.

Kind regards,

Stuart


I was very, very pissed off that the stake money was going to a "female friend of a friend" to put bets on. If I had ever known it would be remotely like this I would obviously never have invested in this. The "rest of the money" was also not sent by the end of the month.

I posted in this thread to try and get him to be better with communication as he was ignoring multiple emails that I sent. Almost 2 minutes after I posted he emailed me.

Communication was very poor, one of the reasons I invested here was because he had previously been a manager at a really big company and assumed he was older and wiser than poker players and would be able to handle everything professionally.

After again insisting I would post "tomorrow" he decided to send me around half of the money that was owed. He has told me multiple times since he would send the money owed but I think he is just sending money to me initially to keep me quiet.

I was messaging arbboy a lot after I found out and he was very apologetic about it all and I 100% don't think he is in any way shape or form involved or even responsible and he spent a lot of time replying to me. I tried a lot to get him to post it on blonde but he was (perhaps reasonably) very reluctant. I tried to make skype groups multiple times to make communication better, but again he didn't want to do that.

I wrote to him a couple times more and haven't heard back anything since June 16th. I received one email from Stu wishing me good luck in the PLO.

Arbboy suggested to me that it could potentially have been a big scam knowing he would get really good credit and essentially a 0% interest loan whilst he was under it.

I kinda forgot about it all (was on back of my mind whilst playing WSOP) but received this email this morning.

Hi Pads,

You don't know me but I'm a regular poster on TFT. I staked Redarmi as I believe you did. I haven't heard from him or received any money and he hasn't replied to my latest email. I wonder if you would be prepared to let me know if you have received any money ?
I'm a little concerned that others have been paid back and I haven't.



I felt bad that I was potentially paid out some money because I was going to be vocal. That's definitely not the right way to go about it, everybody should be paid back equally and I'm happy to share out what was paid to me with others who haven't been paid.

As far as I know (Last communication with Arbboy + pm) there is potentially still over £25,000+ which hasn't been paid back.

I was reluctant to post this because of "the old school" mentality of gambling. But to me, growing men should take bigger responsibilities and act way more professional here.

I'm not sure what I want to achieve by posting this, but maybe others who were involved could come here and post because it was all relatively secretive and emails were sent individually I have no idea of how many people were involved. Who knows maybe he received 300% the investment. I want everything to be on the table moving forward.

No idea if I'm going to come across bad posting this but I feel that I should.

[arbboy]

oh my.  Suppose Stu only has himself to blame for the shit finally hitting the fan on here.  He has been given far too much time by numerous people to sort this out and has behaved like a total c*nt from start to finish on the whole operation.  I have effectively lost contact with him as a friend as well over this.  I feel massively embarrassed about the whole thing because over 75% of the investment came via my word about him being '100% good' for the money.  I really didn't want this to end like this but i understand Pads posting because the WSOP has effectively given Stu a month's grace (on top of the 3 months he has already have) to sort it because over 50% of the total investment have their mind's otherwise engaged in vegas  but still nothing is forthcoming.  It has been comical bullshit excuse after excuse made by Stu all to people who are pro's and won't buy these comical excuses yet he has kept coming out with them week after week month after month.  The rapid response to demanding emails has been present from my end which makes me think he wants to shush this up all along and 'buy time'.  Anyone who hasn't been demanding literally hasn't received any correspondence and/or money repaid whereas anyone who has 'kicked off' has received a quick email response and more bullshit to try and buy time and stop them going public.

Just to clarify my position he also owes me a substantial 4 figure sum regarding this so i am involved personally financially as well as putting my reputation on the line to numerous industry pro's to recommend him to them investment wise.

I have said to pads from the start i would rather keep this private but i think the time has come for this to be exposed in public given it was only ever exposed in the first place 3 months ago and the original stu email sent because i basically demanded to know wtf was going on with our £30k as the betting volume being invested was beyond a joke.  I am 1000% convinced Stu has bascially used and abused his goodwill with me and my contacts to basically get a £30k interest free loan for 6 months and counting.  The stories he has come out with make no sense at all combined with the terrible punting volume he put into the stake at the start.

I am really sorry it has come to this for all those involved who trusted my opinion on Stu who i have known for over 10 years and previously classed as someone in the top 5 of people i would trust financially.

His silence on blonde in the last 3 months sums it up for me.  I have given him many opportunities to open up to me and tell me the truth and what is going on in his personal life but he has declined on every opportunity and kept to the bullshit of his story which makes no sense.  I seriously hope he is ok personally because for him to do this having just got a new position at poker stars sports betting operation (i assume that wasn't bullshit as well) and risk his lifetime rep in the game for £30k something serious must have happened short term for him to do this having known him reasonably well for over 10 years.

There is only so long you can sit and listen to bullshit and wait for the money before you have to go down other channels like Pads has.  I totally understand his thinking.

[arbboy]

As an aside i would appreciate it if anyone else has been 'tapped up' for 'investment' so we know if others are in the same boat as we are.

[sonour]

Arbboy,

Have you received any money back ?

[sonour]

Has the well known poker player confirmed that he owes Stu money and if so is he intending to pay it back ?

[arbboy]

Arbboy,

Have you received any money back ?

I received a token £500 from him to basically buy him time when i found out that someone had paid him money which he was owed and he couldn't back out of not paying me.  If i hadn't approached him i wouldn't have received a penny 100%.  I am getting really sick of the whole thing tbh.

This was the email on 12 June

Just sent you a monkey.  Was over overdraft limit so some got chewed up but will still send some more in 7-10 days.

Nothing has been received since and i haven't heard from him via any medium since this date even though more money was promised in a week as above and another email has been sent to everyone asking for iban numbers to send cash but since then i still haven't received any more cash.

[arbboy]

The bottom line is even if the £12k was 'stolen' and the money owed from a poker player was £3k there is still at least £10k which he has either a) blown and b) is sitting on.  Why hasn't that £10k been paid back even with the other bullshit excuses he is using.  There is still at least £10k which should be sitting in his account in cash for 6 months which is ours if he hasn't been up to no good yet there hasn't been a penny of that paid back and/or explained as to it's whereabouts.

[arbboy]

Has the well known poker player confirmed that he owes Stu money and if so is he intending to pay it back ?

This is a token amount in relation to the overall stake and has no bearing on where the reminding money is imo which should have been repaid months ago.  This is why i am 100% convinced we have just been used as an interest free loan for 7 months as if the stake was for real there would be over £10k in cash sitting in his account that he could snap repay.  The fact he can't/won't means he is desperate for cash and/or has blown it punting.  There is no other excuse which makes sense.

[The Camel]

Stu has got a good job now hasn't he?

Surely he can pay a decent chunk back every month from his wages?

Not ideal of course, but better than nothing.

[arbboy]

Stu has got a good job now hasn't he?

Surely he can pay a decent chunk back every month from his wages?

Not ideal of course, but better than nothing.

That's not the point.  A detailed explanation of where the £30k has gone would be appreciated.  It is our money we gave to him to provide a return not an interest free loan for him to pay back at his leisure.

[The Camel]

Stu has got a good job now hasn't he?

Surely he can pay a decent chunk back every month from his wages?

Not ideal of course, but better than nothing.

That's not the point.  A detailed explanation of where the £30k has gone would be appreciated.  It is our money we gave to him to provide a return not an interest free loan for him to pay back at his leisure.

What's the point in humiliating him?

The money has obviously gone, you should be most concerned about getting it back (unless he's lost on the stake - which he would have told you about by now, so I'm assuming that isn't where it has gone) shouldn't you?

[The Camel]

Not defending Stu in any shape or form btw.

Just seems like humiliating him is not the way this is going to get resolved.

[arbboy]

Stu has got a good job now hasn't he?

Surely he can pay a decent chunk back every month from his wages?

Not ideal of course, but better than nothing.

That's not the point.  A detailed explanation of where the £30k has gone would be appreciated.  It is our money we gave to him to provide a return not an interest free loan for him to pay back at his leisure.

What's the point in humiliating him?

The money has obviously gone, you should be most concerned about getting it back (unless he's lost on the stake - which he would have told you about by now, so I'm assuming that isn't where it has gone) shouldn't you?

What about humiliating me to several major players in the game and using my reputation to get the £30k in the first place when he never had any intention for using it for the stated purpose.  He get's caught with his hands in the cookie jar and still can't admit what has happened with it when asked numerous times by a guy he considers a 'good friend'.  

[arbboy]

Not defending Stu in any shape or form btw.

Just seems like humiliating him is not the way this is going to get resolved.

What would you suggest after waiting patiently for 4 months and counting and getting nothing back at all but bullshit after bullshit excuse?  I given him numerous opportunities to open up to me privately and admit what has gone on but he contiunes with the bullshit excuses which don't add up and leave £10k or more which should be sitting in his bank if his stories are true.  Yet he has no money to pay back.  There is only so much bullshit pads and the rest of us can listen to.

If he had come out and said 'listen mark i have punted the whole lot off you will all get paid back in time' most of us would be fuming but probably be like fair enough.  If he said 'look i was in a massive hole personally with the family and needed £30k and panicked you will all get the money back' etc etc but nothing like that has happened.  Everyone knows this has happened but he keeps talking about £12k being stolen from a friend of a friend.  The bottom line there should still be £10k sitting in his bank doing nothing if his story is true so we know its all lies otherwise just pay back the £10k that is sitting in your account which isn't yours.

[The Camel]

Stu has got a good job now hasn't he?

Surely he can pay a decent chunk back every month from his wages?

Not ideal of course, but better than nothing.

That's not the point.  A detailed explanation of where the £30k has gone would be appreciated.  It is our money we gave to him to provide a return not an interest free loan for him to pay back at his leisure.

What's the point in humiliating him?

The money has obviously gone, you should be most concerned about getting it back (unless he's lost on the stake - which he would have told you about by now, so I'm assuming that isn't where it has gone) shouldn't you?

What about humiliating me to several major players in the game and using my reputation to get the £30k in the first place when he never had any intention for using it for the stated purpose.  He get's caught with his hands in the cookie jar and still can't admit what has happened with it when asked numerous times by a guy he considers a 'good friend'.  

True. You have every right to be pissed off.

He asked if I was interested. I'd be very pissed off if I had.

But, I don't think this is the right way of getting your money. If he sent you a monkey when he had a lot more in his hands, he's obviously in big trouble.

This thread could get him in trouble at work, and if he loses his job, you might never get your cash.

Definitely the right way of stopping anyone else getting burned though.