Published on: October 9, 2025, 07:04h.
Updated on: October 9, 2025, 07:04h.
- Poker champion claims victory at Michigan tournament while awaiting fraud sentencing
- Allegations of Janssen’s kidnapping add complexity to financial crime narrative
- Prosecutors indicate $3.9 million fraud scheme fueled auto-loan deception
George Janssen, a poker player embroiled in an unusual kidnapping allegation and currently awaiting sentencing for fraud, triumphed at a tournament in Michigan on Wednesday.
Janssen outperformed 311 participants in a $400 buy-in Ultimate Stack no-limit hold’em tournament at Firekeepers Casino in Battle Creek, earning $18,556, as initially reported by PokerNews.com.
With four World Series of Poker Circuit rings under his belt, Janssen is scheduled to be sentenced for felony financial institution fraud in December. Federal prosecutors allege he executed a scheme to deceive credit unions through fraudulent auto-loan applications from 2016 to 2023.
Missing Person Report
Reported missing by family in November 2023, Janssen’s car was discovered abandoned with $50 bills scattered across the interior.
On December 16 of the same year, he was located, bound and injured, on the side of a rural road near his hometown of Bad Axe, Michigan.
He claimed to have been abducted and held captive by a “Hispanic extortion syndicate” in an Ohio basement for a duration of 33 days, stating he had managed to escape from his captors.
In February of this year, Janssen was taken into custody. Prosecutors allege he defrauded at least 20 financial institutions, amounting to over $3.9 million, with around $1.9 million still unaccounted for following his disappearance.
Court documents indicate that Janssen agreed to a guilty plea for one count of financial institution fraud relating to the scheme in August 2025.
Financial Strain
Prosecutors assert that Janssen was under increasing financial stress in the weeks leading up to his disappearance. They allege he utilized fictitious documents to “float” loans – a method involving taking multiple loans against the same asset, in this case, a vehicle from his dealership.
Just two weeks prior to his vanishing, Michigan authorities revoked his car-dealer license for five years due to falsified documents.
Before the purported kidnapping, Janssen confided in a friend about being extorted and threatened for approximately two years by a criminal group, according to a missing persons report filed in November 2023.
He disclosed that the trouble began when a masked individual threatened him at gunpoint in a Detroit casino parking lot, demanding $2 million—an amount he stated he did not possess.
Janssen allegedly informed the friend that his extortionists later provided him with a burner phone for continued communication and threatened his family unless he paid up. He claimed he was instructed to drop off cash at designated locations.
Enigmatic Letter
While purportedly held captive, a family member received a handwritten note from Janssen.
The letter referenced several genuine acquaintances but also featured six fictitious relatives—Kirby, Iggy, Daisey, Noah, Anthony, and Parker. Their initials combined to spell “KIDNAP.”
Prosecutors contend that Janssen fabricated the kidnapping narrative in a desperate effort to mask escalating debts and hide years of financial wrongdoing.
Facing a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million penalty, he may see his time reduced to under ten years due to his guilty plea and lack of prior offenses, based on federal sentencing guidelines.