Man murders business partner, pretends to be victim traveling around the world in subsequent e-mails

[Gookieheimowitz]

Not sure how old this story is . Seems a ton of stuff was going on here . Who is the poker player? Anybody have any ideas?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...cid=spartanntp

[JohnCommode]

Business partner? I'd call security if I ever saw this guy walk into my office building

[Dan Druff]

Very interesting story.

Anyone who has 10 minutes to spare should read it.

It has a minor WSOP connection (as Gookie mentioned), in that a WSOP player was scammed by Edward Shin (the murderer in the story), and the victim poker player was supposedly "considering taking a contract out on him".

However, the player is not named, other than being a "WSOP winner", which means it could be any bracelet winner over the many decades of the event (maybe even me!)

I don't believe the contract story. How could this be corroborated? I'm guessing the WSOP winner told the article author this during the interview, simply to sound like less of a mark.

Though a minor part of the story, one of the elements I found fascinating was Shin's use of arm-candy-for-hire at nightclubs. Basically, he would invite business associates and other potential marks to the club, where he would be surrounded by beautiful women. These women would not only be seemingly interested in hanging out with Shin, but also would immediately take an interest in any other dude Shin brought into the group.

The guy who set all of this up for Shin -- a Vegas VIP arranger named Tom Ramey -- best described it as. "The illusion was that this guy was so cool that he would just show up and women would flock to the table and fuck everybody there." Ramey said that Shin made him promise not to reveal anyone that these women were paid -- essentially high-end hookers who agreed beforehand to bang any guy in the group who showed interest in them.

I wonder how many other bottle-service areas for Vegas clubs are filled with paid hookers, rather than hot chicks voluntarily hanging all over guys that you would otherwise be jealous of when you walk by them.

BTW, I looked up Edward Shin and couldn't find a single poker tournament cash for him ever. That surprised me, given that he somehow got to know a WSOP winner well enough to scam him, was a high-stakes pit gambler, and definitely was in the need for quick, big money (which tournaments can provide if you get lucky enough). Perhaps Shin did play, but was so bad that he failed to cash a single time.

The police work here was beyond bad. I know the parents were considering suing, and they really should. It was only due to a coincidence that a PI got involved (in order to chase down a $40,000 debt to a landlord), who then stumbled upon super-obvious evidence that Shin was likely the murderer. Among the fails of Laguna Beach PD:

- Why didn't they attempt to track down "Tiffany the Playboy model", given that they had her picture? Apparently it showed up when doing a reverse image search (LOL!)

- Why didn't they attempt to authenticate the location of the international e-mails supposedly coming from Smith -- something which would have been easy to do with a warrant?

- Why didn't they investigate Smith's business partner (Shin) a bit further, given that he was the last one to be seen with Smith? A quick background check would have uncovered all of the scamming.

- Why didn't they bother visiting Smith's place of business, where they would have seen the blood splatters everywhere -- which Shin inexplicably didn't clean well at all?

It looks like Edward Shin was an incredibly moronic criminal, and yet he almost evaded arrest for murder because the police investigating it were even dumber.



The trial was scheduled for January 12, then delayed until January 19, then "might be delayed another 8 weeks", which still would mean it would have started by now: https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/murd...ath-postponed/

His attorney also claims that they had a jailhouse informant giving information to police, but prosecutors swore they wouldn't use the information at trial, thereby allowing themselves to avoid giving it to Shin's defense attorney: https://mynewsla.com/orange-county/2...llers-oc-cell/

And in an odd coincidence, both of Shin's attorneys are familiar to me in different ways.

Allan Stokke is the father of Alison Stokke, the "hot pole vaulter girl" who became an internet sensation about a decade ago.

Ed Welbourn went to high school with me, and was in my grade. I knew him, but we were never friends. His younger brother is John Welbourn, NFL player from 1999-2008.

[Gookieheimowitz]

Very interesting story.

Anyone who has 10 minutes to spare should read it.

It has a minor WSOP connection (as Gookie mentioned), in that a WSOP player was scammed by Edward Shin (the murderer in the story), and the victim poker player was supposedly "considering taking a contract out on him".

However, the player is not named, other than being a "WSOP winner", which means it could be any bracelet winner over the many decades of the event (maybe even me!)

I don't believe the contract story. How could this be corroborated? I'm guessing the WSOP winner told the article author this during the interview, simply to sound like less of a mark.

Though a minor part of the story, one of the elements I found fascinating was Shin's use of arm-candy-for-hire at nightclubs. Basically, he would invite business associates and other potential marks to the club, where he would be surrounded by beautiful women. These women would not only be seemingly interested in hanging out with Shin, but also would immediately take an interest in any other dude Shin brought into the group.

The guy who set all of this up for Shin -- a Vegas VIP arranger named Tom Ramey -- best described it as. "The illusion was that this guy was so cool that he would just show up and women would flock to the table and fuck everybody there." Ramey said that Shin made him promise not to reveal anyone that these women were paid -- essentially high-end hookers who agreed beforehand to bang any guy in the group who showed interest in them.

I wonder how many other bottle-service areas for Vegas clubs are filled with paid hookers, rather than hot chicks voluntarily hanging all over guys that you would otherwise be jealous of when you walk by them.

BTW, I looked up Edward Shin and couldn't find a single poker tournament cash for him ever. That surprised me, given that he somehow got to know a WSOP winner well enough to scam him, was a high-stakes pit gambler, and definitely was in the need for quick, big money (which tournaments can provide if you get lucky enough). Perhaps Shin did play, but was so bad that he failed to cash a single time.

The police work here was beyond bad. I know the parents were considering suing, and they really should. It was only due to a coincidence that a PI got involved (in order to chase down a $40,000 debt to a landlord), who then stumbled upon super-obvious evidence that Shin was likely the murderer. Among the fails of Laguna Beach PD:

- Why didn't they attempt to track down "Tiffany the Playboy model", given that they had her picture? Apparently it showed up when doing a reverse image search (LOL!)

- Why didn't they attempt to authenticate the location of the international e-mails supposedly coming from Smith -- something which would have been easy to do with a warrant?

- Why didn't they investigate Smith's business partner (Shin) a bit further, given that he was the last one to be seen with Smith? A quick background check would have uncovered all of the scamming.

- Why didn't they bother visiting Smith's place of business, where they would have seen the blood splatters everywhere -- which Shin inexplicably didn't clean well at all?

It looks like Edward Shin was an incredibly moronic criminal, and yet he almost evaded arrest for murder because the police investigating it were even dumber.



The trial was scheduled for January 12, then delayed until January 19, then "might be delayed another 8 weeks", which still would mean it would have started by now: https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/murd...ath-postponed/

His attorney also claims that they had a jailhouse informant giving information to police, but prosecutors swore they wouldn't use the information at trial, thereby allowing themselves to avoid giving it to Shin's defense attorney: https://mynewsla.com/orange-county/2...llers-oc-cell/

And in an odd coincidence, both of Shin's attorneys are familiar to me in different ways.

Allan Stokke is the father of Alison Stokke, the "hot pole vaulter girl" who became an internet sensation about a decade ago.

Ed Welbourn went to high school with me, and was in my grade. I knew him, but we were never friends. His younger brother is John Welbourn, NFL player from 1999-2008.

Possibly a good radio topic? My guess in who the Wsop Player was is obvious to me . Jamie Gold . I understand it wasn't mentioned what event but doesn't this type of shady dealings in business seem up his alley?

[Shizzmoney]

The phone call wasn't the only screw-up. Shin instructed the 800Xchange's employees to work from home for the entire week after the crime so that he could have the office professionally cleaned. When a maintenance man for the office complex showed up at suite 123, he noticed "a lot" of blood on the walls and carpet; Shin told him that he had cut his arm while slicing an apple, according to police.

LOL

my guess on the WSOP player is Russ Hamilton. Isn't he a high stakes blackjack guy, too?

[Peter Binklage]

Not surprised Shin could lure in a bracelet winner despite not having any live MTT cashes on Hendon. Plenty of bracelet winners play mid-to-high stakes cash in LA and Vegas. Also based on how badly he blows at crime and gambling, it's safe to assume he blows at poker. So he could have played a bunch of MTTs without cashing.

Also LOL at trying to sue the police for botching this. Any lawyer who takes money for that case is a much smoother criminal than Shin.

[Dan Druff]

The phone call wasn't the only screw-up. Shin instructed the 800Xchange's employees to work from home for the entire week after the crime so that he could have the office professionally cleaned. When a maintenance man for the office complex showed up at suite 123, he noticed "a lot" of blood on the walls and carpet; Shin told him that he had cut his arm while slicing an apple, according to police.

LOL

my guess on the WSOP player is Russ Hamilton. Isn't he a high stakes blackjack guy, too?

Russ doesn't go to Vegas anymore.

Even if he did, he's way too much of a conman himself to get taken by a scheme like this.