Real or staged? Obscure Michigan poker pro George Janssen found with hands ziptied, claims kidnapping/extortion attempt

https://www.poker.org/fbi-believed-t...t-ring-winner/

According to the article above by Haley Hintze, George Janssen was found on the road with his hands ziptied, claiming he escpaed a house in Toledo, Ohio where he was held for the past 5 weeks.

He has 4 Michigan Online WSOP Circuit rings, including two scores of around $80k each over the past 3 months.

The FBI is reportedly investigating.

Some are theorizing that Janssen had backers and either chunked off the money owed to them, or simply didn't want to pay it (perhaps using it to pay others). It is possible that Janssen faked the kidnapping in order to explain where the money went.

He was found in Meade Townsip, MI -- 175 miles from Toledo. He claimed to have been brought back to Michigan to retrieve money he had at home.

It is much easier to zip tie your own hands behind your back than it is to tie them with a rope. One could simply put their hands into a closed but very loose ziptie, and then use one of the hands to pull it tight.

His Hendon mob shows $440k total cashes.

What do you think? Real or fake?

My opinion is fake, and the FBI will eventually conclude he is the Jussie Smollett of poker.

Here's another article: https://www.abc12.com/news/crime/fbi...5e2e7bad9.html

This one mentions that Janssen's abandoned car had $50 bills on the floor (lol).

It also says he owned a car dealership which closed this year.

Janssen claimed he had been the "target of extortion for the past 2 years".

I find all of this very unlikely. The $50 bills on the floor is a detail you might see in a movie for dramatic effect, but extortion never really works that way. The car dealership closing indicates likely financial distress. The repeated targeting of extortion seems unlikely for a guy struggling financially. It's not like he just won the WSOP Main Event. Why wouldn't these extortionists target actual rich guys in the area?

Huge bullshit stench on this one.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Here's another article: https://www.abc12.com/news/crime/fbi...5e2e7bad9.html

This one mentions that Janssen's abandoned car had $50 bills on the floor (lol).

It also says he owned a car dealership which closed this year.

Janssen claimed he had been the "target of extortion for the past 2 years".

I find all of this very unlikely. The $50 bills on the floor is a detail you might see in a movie for dramatic effect, but extortion never really works that way. The car dealership closing indicates likely financial distress. The repeated targeting of extortion seems unlikely for a guy struggling financially. It's not like he just won the WSOP Main Event. Why wouldn't these extortionists target actual rich guys in the area?

Huge bullshit stench on this one.

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$50s are bad luck, and no one pays out in $50s anyhow….sounds fake.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was so broke that he used $50s instead of $100s because he couldn't afford to leave $100s on the floor of the vehicle AND hide out for awhile.

I would love to know where he really was all this time. I'm guessing in some weekly motel a few towns over, where he didn't have to show ID.

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Originally Posted by Texter

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Here's another article: https://www.abc12.com/news/crime/fbi...5e2e7bad9.html

This one mentions that Janssen's abandoned car had $50 bills on the floor (lol).

It also says he owned a car dealership which closed this year.

Janssen claimed he had been the "target of extortion for the past 2 years".

I find all of this very unlikely. The $50 bills on the floor is a detail you might see in a movie for dramatic effect, but extortion never really works that way. The car dealership closing indicates likely financial distress. The repeated targeting of extortion seems unlikely for a guy struggling financially. It's not like he just won the WSOP Main Event. Why wouldn't these extortionists target actual rich guys in the area?

Huge bullshit stench on this one.

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$50s are bad luck, and no one pays out in $50s anyhow….sounds fake.

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Never understood this claim. Especially among gamblers, anyone know where or why it started?

Some guy at Commerce didn’t want to play 200/400 limit with $50 chips.

I asked him, “If they’re unlucky, how can everyone at a poker table be unlucky?”

He couldn’t answer that.

The actual answer would be, “We will all lose to the rake.”

Reminds me of the Forensics File episode where the killer was traced because he gambled with his player’s card inserted. FBI should get his gambling history from as many casinos/Apps ASAP and they will get a good idea. May not take too many man hours to wrap this one up.

It’s 99 percent bullshit. Seems way to elaborate a story. Guess dude didn’t have the coin and/or stones to fly to a non extradition country. This will make things much worse for him. But he could have owed the wrong people the money and it may just save his life. Maybe he was fucked either way.

I do hope somehow it’s true. But just can’t get myself there. Probably just panicked and thought up this half ass scenario.

BTW when the report says “treated for minor injuries”….that basically means he was healthy as a horse. Doesn’t look good. 35 days in captivity in his forties and requires basically no treatment? Escaped while ziptied? He would be in rough rough shape.

Thank God he isn’t female lol.

Obviously fake. He owes, either blew it in the pits or is being greedy.

Drugs are involved; he thought going big with zip ties adds credibility but just seems clunky.

Im gonna set the line at -250 he's full of shit and set the whole thing up himself.
+300 He legitimately was hiding from backers or some folks he owed money to
+650 He actually was kidnapped and held for weeks and they finally realized they couldnt get money from him but even less if they killed him it would advance to a federal Capital crime worth the DP potentially.

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Originally Posted by Ryback_feed_me_more

Im gonna set the line at -250 he's full of shit and set the whole thing up himself.
+300 He legitimately was hiding from backers or some folks he owed money to
+650 He actually was kidnapped and held for weeks and they finally realized they couldnt get money from him but even less if they killed him it would advance to a federal Capital crime worth the DP potentially.

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Way higher than -250

More like -10000 full of shit.

WAY too many things are suspect, as I explained above in my posts. The fact that he only received "minor injuries" adds yet even more to the bullshit pile.

So crime figures in Michigan skip targeting really rich guys for extortion, and instead go after low-end poker pros for 2 years? And they kidnap the guy AFTER he apparently has gone broke?

Who was that guy who was dating Annette15 that claimed he was robbed in the bathroom….his story was just about as believable.

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Originally Posted by Texter

Who was that guy who was dating Annette15 that claimed he was robbed in the bathroom….his story was just about as believable.

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Scott Montgomery.

Also very bullshitty story, as you said.

Still in poker, though he was gone for about 4 years between 2019 and mid-2023.

Only plays $300-$1k tournies now, from what I can see.

11:10

https://youtu.be/C8EyRtlLkwE?si=Puth9bSu7eFisIaz

"Booth was last seen on July 13 leaving the Grand Sierra Resort in his truck. He told his roommate he was going camping, but took minimal items which would only sustain him for a day or two, according to NamUs, a national information and resource centre for missing, unidentified and unclaimed person cases in the U.S."

'Amazingly' Brad was found alive. His disappearance did not come that far after this confession:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7F54isQdEQ


There is less than a 5% chance this subject in this kidnapping ever happened. These fucking guys get sideways with their debtors and the scams begin.

The old WSOP was top top.

Yes you saw less hands but it was so much better production wise.

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Originally Posted by Texter

The old WSOP was top top.

Yes you saw less hands but it was so much better production wise.

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When you look at the winners and final table in the main event for the last decade or so it’s almost all pros. That Qui Nyguen baccarat degen was the only exception. These tournament pros are just pretty boring and there isn’t much that these production crews have to work with.

If you look at the final table for the Wynn event the dream of a “semi-pro” or “recreational” player winning one of these long structured 10Ks is pretty much dead. The good news is there will be guys with no real shot to win ponying up for these events for the foreseeable future.

The long structure makes the recs feel like they have a chance. But in actuality the longer and slower the structure the more the variance levels out and lets these killers really have time to realize their advantage. That’s why these Triton stops have much shorter structures to increase variance and decrease the time commitment for the whales.

Nowadays we either get near perfect boring tournament poker or awful cash games which just feel like rich guys passing around money. I do think they could do a better job with trying to tell stories like in the good old days. But it will never be the same.

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Originally Posted by JeffDime

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Originally Posted by Texter

The old WSOP was top top.

Yes you saw less hands but it was so much better production wise.

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When you look at the winners and final table in the main event for the last decade or so it’s almost all pros. That Qui Nyguen baccarat degen was the only exception. These tournament pros are just pretty boring and there isn’t much that these production crews have to work with.

If you look at the final table for the Wynn event the dream of a “semi-pro” or “recreational” player winning one of these long structured 10Ks is pretty much dead. The good news is there will be guys with no real shot to win ponying up for these events for the foreseeable future.

The long structure makes the recs feel like they have a chance. But in actuality the longer and slower the structure the more the variance levels out and lets these killers really have time to realize their advantage. That’s why these Triton stops have much shorter structures to increase variance and decrease the time commitment for the whales.

Nowadays we either get near perfect boring tournament poker or awful cash games which just feel like rich guys passing around money. I do think they could do a better job with trying to tell stories like in the good old days. But it will never be the same.

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They could still find some interesting stories and people for us to root for even if they get grindered down in the last 100 etc….

I believe him

Not sure what people find suspicious about this story

Poor guy was targeted by criminals, glad to see he’s ok

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Originally Posted by NickyPipes

I believe him

Not sure what people find suspicious about this story

Poor guy was targeted by criminals, glad to see he’s ok

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Brother it's as credible as when Druff fell ill with LPR from hot dog consumption right at the time when the integrity of the fraud detective was called into question over his involvement in Cmoney's death hoax.

The subsequent magical cure of 'mouth rinse' makes perfect sense and I'm sure Brother George has an equally credible explanation for all of this.

I’m just glad my prayer circle is still batting 100%. We had been praying for him every day. Unlike the fake Christians who just spray random prayers all over the place like some Compton n---- with a fully automatic weapon, we target one poor soul. God doesn’t like to be bogged down with the beggars. Just a simple “god please save this mid stakes trash and vomit him back across the Michigan border, amen.”

I keep reading the title as 'obscure Magician poker pro' and im always a bit disappointed when i see its 'Michigan'.

Update:

Pokernews did some serious work, getting the missing persons report via a public records request: https://www.pokernews.com/news/2024/...heme-45186.htm

The guy is so full of shit, it hurts.

Look at this letter sent by George to a family member in mid-December:

https://pnimg.net/w/articles-attachm...4a345d54f1.png

Spells out "KIDNAP"! Clever, huh?

Why did the kidnappers allow him to write letters to people? That hasn't been explained, of course.

Oh, and he claims he was extorted for $2 million over 2 years, where he was told to leave cash at various drop points. But get this... the original person making this demand of him was a masked guy "with a Mexican accent" who was sitting in the passenger seat of George's vehicle, waiting for him to get in!

:lol

The letter... the bad guy hiding in the car... the $50 bills strewn about the floor... all of these are plot points out of a really bad kindapping story on a TV crime drama or B movie.

Oh, and George just happened to be in debt for millions, in relation to his former auto business. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

https://twitter.com/atarirobby/statu...86467158499448

The FBI is now officially going after him for fraud and he was arrested yesterday

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A four-time World Series of Poker circuit champion who claimed last year to have been kidnapped by a Mexican cartel and held hostage for 33 days in an Ohio basement as part of a seven-figure extortion scheme has now been accused of fraud.

That’s according to a newly unsealed federal complaint reviewed by The Independent, which says 42-year-old George Paul Janssen, Jr., scammed at least 20 banks out of more than $3.2 million before he vanished, using bogus loan paperwork to obtain the funds.

Janssen, a Michigan car dealer with more than $440,000 in pro poker winnings, went missing in November 2023 – two weeks after state authorities revoked his sales license for falsifying business documents – then reappeared a little over a month later, hands zip-tied and face bloodied, along the side of a rural road in his hometown of Bad Axe.

At the time, Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson said investigators were unable to substantiate whether or not Janssen’s account of having been abducted was legit, saying only that there were “a lot of things that need to be looked into.”

Janssen, who was arrested on Wednesday, does not have an attorney listed in court records, and was unable to be reached for comment on Thursday.

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https://www.the-independent.com/news...-b2706193.html

His son was also in on it looks like

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George's son, Connor Janssen, is mentioned in the complaint and said to have been a salesperson at Bay Auto who was also responsible for depositing checks into the business accounts.

The complaint alleges that Connor "knew his father was taking false loans and moving money with checks from bank to bank" and took out loans on his father's behalf.

"Connor told Agents he thought the vehicles were real when he took out the loans, but remarked he never saw the vehicles, nor any paperwork," the complaint states. "Connor also told Agents he thought his father was making the loan documents in Microsoft Word."

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https://www.pokernews.com/news/2025/...aint-48043.htm

Fucked up that he got his son wrapped up in all of this.

Not sure how old he is, but given that George is only 42, I can't imagine that son Connor is much past 21, if that.

It's one thing to be a bank fraudster yourself and risk the consequences. It's another to wrap your young adult son in the whole scheme as an accomplice, and fuck him over once your reckless behavior catches up with you.

I assume that the entire "kidnap" and "extortion" bullshit was his way of explaining why he defrauded the banks. He knew he was dead to rights on it, and felt that maybe the cops/courts would have sympathy for him if he felt like he had to commit this fraud in order to keep dangerous criminals from killing him.