In December 2023, four-time World Collection of Poker Circuit winner George Paul Janssen was discovered together with his fingers zip-tied and a bloody face alongside a rural highway in Meade Township, Michigan.
Janssen mentioned he was kidnapped by a Mexican cartel after the gang tried to extort him for 2 years.
Some within the Wolverine State now imagine your complete kidnapping could have been a ruse to rip-off 20 banks out of $3.2 million. In line with stories, he allegedly used pretend paperwork to use for loans and is now accused of fraud after an investigation by the FBI.
Janssen was arrested final week on fraud prices and the weird story made worldwide information.
The part-time poker participant has virtually $550,000 in event winnings. In 2022, he received three WSOP Circuit on-line occasions. He added a fourth ring from one other on-line poker collection in 2023.
Janssen disappeared in November 2023. A month later, he was discovered on the highway. The incident got here after he allegedly falsified enterprise paperwork and misplaced his license to promote vehicles.
“This was not the primary time they discovered Janssen falsifying enterprise paperwork and, on October 30, 2023, Janssen misplaced his license to promote vehicles in Michigan for a five-year interval,” a federal grievance notes.
The Michigan Division of State Workplace of Investigative Providers discovered “discrepancies in his gross sales and stock.” They discovered he listed “the identical fictitious autos in a number of mortgage functions.”
Consequently, his auto dealership was closed.
Longtime buddy Earl McKee mentioned Janssen “used their friendship to ask [him] to take out a number of car loans,” in keeping with The Impartial. McKee later altered authorities of the suspicious transactions.
“There’s been a number of collateral injury attributable to what George has executed,” he advised the newspaper. “I’ve a household, I’ve a profession. I don’t want his issues, too. This was a shock to everybody.”
McKee additionally added that he wasn’t positive if the kidnapping was actual or not. Through the alleged kidnapping, a household buddy discovered his automobile with some money, together with a $50 invoice, situated on the floorboard, in keeping with stories.
A member of the family advised native information retailers on the time that two or three folks kidnapped Janssen and transported him to the Toledo space, the place he was stored towards his will for 35 days in a basement.
“From what we gathered, he was being introduced up right here to get well some cash that was hidden to present to those two assailants,” Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson mentioned.
Janssen withdrew giant quantities of money from his financial institution accounts earlier than the incident, prosecutors notice. Federal authorities haven’t commented on whether or not they imagine your complete story is actual. Janssen now faces as much as 30 years in jail and a $1 million fantastic.
