Two of the most well-known and well-respected Absolute/UB Poker investigators are embroiled in what is turning into a very serious feud. It’s been well-known in the poker community that Haley Hintze (author of a forthcoming book on the Super-User scandals) and Scott Bell (better known as ElevenGrover and the driving force behind the upcoming documentary titled UltimateBeat) are not exactly on the best of terms, but since the announcement of Bell’s documentary the ‘fit has hit the shan’ between the two opposing camps, with threats of libel and even FBI involvement coming to light.
The latest dust-up occurred when Haley Hintze posted at PokerFraudAlert.com in a thread about Bell’s documentary, making it very clear that she has nothing to do with the project, telling the forum:
“Please don’t mention me in connection with anything having to do with Mr. Bell. There is a high degree of enmity between us, and the chance that I would have anything to do with him is exactly equal to zero. I do note that he is wrong in some of his assertions made in this thread, and in due time the facts will speak for themselves.
“I do get a kick of out when threats made my Bell directed at others work their way to me, which they usually do in two or three steps, because he’s quite often wrong in his assumptions of who’s talking to me. As I Tweeted earlier today, my fave Bell quote from these (to date) is when he wrote:
“It will almost be worth it if Haley ends in prison over the scheme…” — K. Scott Bell, June, 2011
“This is my only comment on these matters.”
But this would not be the last word on the matter, and the bitterness continued with both parties firing a few shots across the bow of the other, both at PokerFraudAlert.com and then over at 2+2 where Haley saw her final remarks in a recent debate over Absolute Poker removed by 2+2 moderator NoahSD when she posted the following “offending” message –which she later posted at PokerFraudAlert.com:
“It seems quite clear now that Bell isn’t going to address the libel, since he’s posted in other threads but hasn’t responded directly here.
“It was exactly libel, no doubt about it. E-mails are not protected communications, and sending such a statement to any third party constitutes publication. In my opinion, the maliciousness and accusation of my supposed criminal behavior to a third party likely raises it to the level of per se defamation, though my not having filed against him to date has had more to do with my perception that he has little worth suing for than anything else.
“Mods, feel free to move these posts into a separate thread. To the previous poster, we were discussing the possible effects on AP players when the derail was ignited by Bell repeating behavior he’s done before, casting aspersions on anything I choose to write. This time I lowered the boom.
“For the record, I forwarded a large number of Bell’s e-mails and social-network threats to an FBI agent on July 10, 2012, along with various statements and evidence connected to certain of Bell’s claims made in these communications. I’ve subsequently become aware of yet another one made recently to a person of interest in the scandals with what I perceive as a threatening title, “Your gonna be a movie star.”
“That is not, unfortunately, atypical.
“I will not publish these materials here, but I expect them to become part of the public record at some future date.”
Bell responded with a mere two sentence reply, “I won’t be responding further to this other than to say it is a transparent effort to drag down our announcement. The communications to Carolyn Heick and Travis Makar will definitely figure in our film and efforts to defend their honor seem misguided at best.” After which Haley accused him of skirting her initial question.
As much as it pains me to see two people trying to accomplish the same thing tear each other down, the feud may very well end up benefiting both parties as they near completion of their respective projects; once again driving up the poker communities interest in the goings-on of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet in the mid-2000’s.
