According to an interview with Online Poker Report, Pala Interactive CEO Jim Ryan (pictured), formerly the head of the UltimateBet-linked Excapsa, reinforced that he had no involvement in the cheating scandal that plagued that online poker room and was instead looking forward to bringing Pala to New Jersey.

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Ryan told OPR officials, “The cheating scheme that occurred at UltimateBet during my tenure at Excapsa is extremely regrettable. The cheating scheme occurred from 2003 to 2007 and I was the CEO of Excapsa for 23 months (January 2005 to November 2006) within this period. I had no knowledge or involvement in this fraudulent activity.”

Ryan added that not only was he unaware of the cheating scandal allegedly masterminded by Russ Hamilton, but other management teams were also in the dark: “I had no knowledge of the gaff and in fact it was so sophisticated that it escaped recognition by three separate management teams during the course of the fraud. The shareholders of Excapsa refunded approximately $14.65 million to the players affected by the scheme.”

UltimateBet and its sister site, Absolute Poker, left the US market on Black Friday. Unlike users at PokerStarsand Full Tilt, UB and Absolute Poker customers have not been reunited with any of their money, as the two sites are reportedly in liquidation. Ryan has also served as the CEO of bwin.party.

Pala has partnered with Borgatain New Jersey, but, according to Ryan, it will operate as its own network with its own software. Additionally, the relationship with Borgata is only for New Jersey and is not applicable to any other state. “We hope to give the market a boost with our experience, proprietary iGaming platform, and innovative promotions,” the CEO said.

Ryan added that Pala’s software has no ties to UltimateBet in any way and, “to ensure that a scheme such as that which occurred on UltimateBet never happens in our environment, Pala Interactive has built state-of-the-art software to detect player fraud (including but not limited to player collision, chip dumping, unusual wins/losses, and bots) to ensure that its players are protected and will have the best online gaming experience available.”

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