Claims kidnapped poker champ sent encrypted messages while missing
Incredible new details have emerged in the case of Michigan poker player George Janssen, who claims he was kidnapped and held captive in a basement for 35 days.
Jensen, who was reported missing by his family on Nov. 13, was found zip-tied and covered in blood on Dec. 16 on a rural road outside the town of Bad Ax, Michigan. He told his family that he had managed to escape his captors.
According to a missing persons report obtained by PokerNews, Jensen told a friend that he had been intimidated and blackmailed by criminal gangs for about two years before his disappearance.
Blackmailed and then kidnapped?
The four-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tour champion reportedly claims his ordeal began when a masked man put a gun to his head as he got into his car in the parking lot of a Detroit casino . The man demanded $2 million, but Jensen said he didn't have it.
Jensen was instructed to drive down the street to meet other gang members, who handed him a burner cellphone, the report states. The poker player claimed the gang would contact him regularly by phone over the next two years, demanding payments and threatening harm to his family if he did not comply.
He was directed to the drop-off point and instructed to deposit the cash into a box provided by the criminals. Sometimes a new phone would be waiting for him in the box, and he was told to leave the old one with the cash, the documents said.
On the day of his disappearance, Jensen's car was found abandoned, with several $50 bills scattered on the ground.
Encrypted Message
According to reports, on December 15, just over a month after Jensen disappeared, a family member received a handwritten letter from Jensen.
In the letter, Jensen inquired about the health of certain friends and relatives. But the letter contained the names of six non-existent family members: Kirby, Iggy, Daisy Noah, Anthony and Parker.
The inclusion of a pseudonym appears to be a cipher, as the first letters of the name spell out K-I-D-N-A-P.
Jensen's financial status was also examined in the report. According to the Hendon Mob database, he is a successful poker player with total tournament winnings of $440,763. The report also claims he took out a loan for a vehicle he wanted to sell through a dealership but was unable to repay it. He was reportedly $2 million in debt to the bank at the time of his disappearance.
The FBI is investigating the case.
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Source: www.casino.org
