PokerListings Founder Murder Remains Unsolved More Than Year Later

It was one of the more shocking stories to rock the online poker world.  The founder of popular website portal PokerListings.com had been shot to death in Sweden August 3, 2009.  As we head into the new year, 2011, police are no closer to solving the crime it seems.

The poker community as a whole suspect Andreas Oscarsson was the target of a contract killing.  He was scheduled to testify against someone in an upcoming trial. 

The local papers haven’t forgotten Oscarsson. 

A translated version of an article appearing in Di.si appears below.

http://translate.google.com/translat...slanguage%3Dsv

DI WEEKEND: He was murdered by six shots. The tabloids called him poker profile and multi-millionaire. But who was Andreas Oscarsson much - and why he was shot? DI Weekend have followed him from their rooms in Trollhättan, from Stockholm School of Economics at the apartment in Manhattan where he built his billion dollar company. This is the story of the entrepreneur behind the mega hit Pokerlistings, Andreas Oscarsson.

Andrew stretched out his body available in the brown leather couch and turned on the TV Current late newscast had just started. He heard his 2.5-year-old son Alexander and Dad January messed up in front of the fireplace in the kitchen.

It was late already when they come home from today's outing. But Alexander insisted on having his new favorite dish, "scrambled eggs", and grandfather had not of course been difficult to persuade. Now Alexander himself was proud and touched with spatula in scrambled eggs, while Andrew, in the comfort of your living room, could sum up his and his son's first single week at home in Sweden.

The family home in Skoftebyns outside Trollhättan as a base, they had traveled and met with family and old friends. A few days in the Bohuslän archipelago, several visits to Andrew's mother in Dalsland, and so here in Trollhättan. No stress, and Alexander had much enjoyed.

Andrew was also pleased. The nightmare that he has been plagued by a number of years seemed to definitely be over. Both private and professional, it was difficult to require something more out of life right now. He lived with his beloved son and U.S. partner in an exclusive apartment in the hot SoHo in Manhattan. From there he sailed his own höglönsamma group, valued at nearly one billion Swedish kronor.

Andrew had no plans to sell his life's work. On the contrary, he planned to expand operations into new markets. While he sketched on new business ventures. There were a number of areas that the entrepreneur in him saw great potential in.

Andrew leaned back in his sofa. After dinner, it would become a hot bath with Alexander and then quickly to bed.

There was a 36-year-old Andreas Oscar's last night alive.

Somewhere out there, not far from the gray painted wooden villa in Skoftebyns, waited for a professional killer that darkness would fall.


"He did not do anything half-heartedly, he would be best, best, best."
Andreas Dad January Oscar

Spring 1990. It was a little after two on Sunday night when 17-year-old Andrew jumped in the car which was parked outside the nightclub Kickis in central Trollhättan. Father Jan had waited a moment while his son counted up the money for nearly six hours at the blackjack table. Jan was tired and wanted most of all home to bed the heat again, but Andrew was excited.

"Dad, I earned 1800 bucks a night. Got it, 1800 bucks, "he said and his eyes shone.

Already at age 16, he had trained as a croupier and now it had become a profitable moonlighting on the weekends. The environment was perhaps not ideal, plenty of smoke and a lot of play, but Andrew had apparently talent to the profession. He was fast in the head and was constantly aware of how much each player won. Otherwise, the card game was nothing that he was particularly used to at home, and definitely not gambling. In the oscarssonska home played at most a batch fyrmanswhist around the kitchen table.

And it definitely was not a future that poker shark by Andreas envisioned when he started in autumn 1989 economic program on Polhemsgymnasiet in Trollhättan. Despite a large group of friends, some celebrations and numerous recreational activities, he was one of the school's real top students.

He had always found it easy at school and at the same time, he was much more focused than most of their schoolmates. Perhaps he was even with the most career-oriented of them all. Already number one in high school he taught for one of his closest friends aim of their studies.

"Stockholm School of Economics was his big goal. He would just get in there, "remembers his schoolmate.

In late spring 1992 the goal was reached. Andrew went to high school with honors in almost all subjects and a few weeks later he was accepted to prestigious school in Stockholm as the only student from the Tri-City (Trollhättan / Vänersborg / Uddevalla) that year.

The climb to the top had begun.

"A bit unlikely combination of a farmer from the country and van metropolitan."
Buddy from the School

Andreas looked good. Toned, with dark brown hair and often with a big smile on his face. It was therefore not unexpected when a man in his 30s came up to him and a friend's Trade in the street one majeftermiddag 1994 and asked if they want to test shoot for a modeling job.

Andrew jumped directly, and a few weeks later he appeared in ads in the Daily News wearing NK's latest summer fashion. At home in Trollhättan cut his grandmother out the ad on the grandchild who could now call herself a model.

When he began his studies at the end of August 1992 he knew no one at school, but he quickly became tjenis with most. Like many other commercial students, he often hung around Stureplan. After the lecture ended in the afternoon, it could be a walk or a coffee in one of the cafes there, and at least once a week, he went out with friends at places like kitchen and a bar (now the nightclub Hell's Kitchen) and Gino (in days furnishings shop Norrgavel).

"Andrew had amazingly easy to get in touch with people. So it was fun to be with Andrew, what happened around him is always a lot of things, "recalls a close friend.

Others who socialized a lot with him on Trade describes a charismatic person with great drive. For even if Andrew was a frequent guest at Stureplan nightclubs during her years at Commerce, he lost no focus.

"He was not like some others at school, an unfeeling machine that only cared about his career. But while Andrew was definitely a tough guy who wanted out. A tough guy with the heart you could say, "describes a classmate.

Traditionally, the job at any of the large consulting firms as McKinsey and investment banks, Goldman Sachs at any time, as herons for "machines" of Trade after graduation. But at this time, in the second half of the 1990s, had a third career option appeared for sale elite - the Internet.

Hottest of all was to work on the Internet consulting firm Icon and Spray (started by some former Commerce Students), or to launch their own dot-com companies and quickly get a lot of venture capital to create world domination.

Andrew was no technology geek, but he was quicker than most to pick up what was there. Suddenly all talked about how the Internet would turn upside down on the business logic in industry after industry. Multinational corporate giants groping in the dark while internet consultants confidently spoke of "corporate dinosaurs" imminent death.

For Andrew, it was no longer any doubt of the segment where his career would soon begin.

"Stockholm, Sweden was too small for him."
Schoolmate from Trollhattan

Despite the hyped Internet consultants in Stockholm tried to launch the image that they were a world leader in new technologies, it was from the U.S. and nowhere else that the development was driven. In Silicon Valley on the west coast was the hottest technology companies and in New York was the Silicon Alley.

Here, along and around Broadway from the Flatiron District down to SoHo, had the coolest content companies his office. They were driven by young, hungry entrepreneurs pumped full of venture capital. No one earning any money, but the expectations were enormous and it was these companies that came in the absolute forefront of the Internet.

Andrew wanted to learn from those who were best. In August 1997 he was quartered and Trade Buddy himself with two Swedish models in a claustrophobic small apartment just a mile from the heart of Silicon Alley. The plan was to collect interview data among the sharpest content companies and then come back to Stockholm and finish writing the final essay on the topic of how companies can use online communities (online communities) in their marketing.

For Andrew, who had started on Trade directly after high school and not traveled the world as many others of his age, it was an adventure.

He loved the pulse and the atmosphere of Manhattan from the first moment. Here he wanted to stay.

"Only you could anything on the internet, where expert."
Classmate at the School

Andrew and his course mate presentation was marked, although their right cocky and a bit precocious Stockholm School of mannerisms, but executives at Internet consulting firm Cell was impressed.

It was in early summer 1998, Cell was seen as an upstart among the more established internet consultants Spray, Framfab and Icon. From the start, backed by the then highly esteemed venture capitalist Jan Carlzon, had been chief executive Marcus Bäcklund positioned Cell as a strategy consultant focused on business value and money than on form and design. The launch had gone home and now Cell staff, just like its competitors, new consultants in almost daily. The bottleneck was not to find clients, but finding staff with skills.

That's why a manager, when he heard of Trade Student essay, had invited the two for a presentation on the Cell's office in the middle of Hötorget in Stockholm, known as the High Tech Building.

Andreas background fit perfectly into the Cell's job specification - he was Business Student and also something of an Internet expert. Although confined his knowledge of the network to the essay, which he just finished writing, but at this time could be consultants with much shallower knowledge become authority figures in the field.

The essay was also really good. It was awarded the highest rating and was presented at a research conference even though it was written by two ordinary students.

And Cell Managers were thus impressed. Just weeks after the meeting showed Andrew one of the minimal office locations high in the High Tech Building. His title was a strategy consultant, and the task was to help companies and organizations on the web. Two of the first customers was the employers' organization Almega and media group Bonnier.

But Andrew stayed only a few months the Cell. Already in March 1999, he jumped and a few consultants. The main reason was dissatisfaction with Marcus Bäcklund's management style, which was described as "extremely oempatisk".

After a quick cameo role as vice president of a small dotcom company, whose business never took off, was lured Andrew over to another internet company, Result Ventures. The consulting firm was founded by the colorful Internet profile and past world champion in kickboxing, Ola Ahlvarsson. The idea was to help companies expand internationally using the Internet as a base, and Andrew launched the first week an aggressive expansion plan for his new employer:

"We want to be in place with offices in New York, he said. And of course, it was Andreas who would put up the office, "recalls one of the previous Resulting consultants.

Andrew had not forgotten the buzz of Silicon Alley. It was almost addictive. In August 1999 he was back in Manhattan - is determined to build a consulting business that could compete with the best players in their own home.

But the way there would be a long and winding.

"He was almost luspank. I had to lend money to him. "
January Oscarsson

From his living room window could see Andreas World Trade Center 400 meters away. But when the hijacked passenger plane crashed into the Twin Towers September 11, 2001, he was in Crete.

Nonetheless, terrorist attacks a major impact on his career and purely personal. His girlfriend was on holiday but was working normally in one of the twin towers, and several of her closest friends died in the attack. After the terrorist attack was cordoned Andrew and his partner's house in the months and they had to move back to Stockholm.

Andreas boyfriend was feeling mentally ill after all that happened and he had bad jobs. The IT bubble had burst and the unemployment rate among Internet consultants was high. During the years in the United States had Andrew not been registered in the Swedish social security system and now he was not entitled to any compensation. Instead, he must live on savings and borrow money from his father to stay afloat.

But the winter of 2001 was an improvement. The much spoken venture capitalist Kjell Spångberg then bought, a few days before Christmas, the internet portal Square run by the Post with the hundreds of million in losses. Through profit beat Andreas assignment to a consultant-president turn things around. To be successful, there was only one thing to do: cut costs.

Andrew did not hesitate a second. Within a few months, more than two thirds of staff redundant and a svindyr technology platform has been replaced by a much more cost-effective solution. In October 2002, mission accomplished. Blood flow was stopped and the square showed for the first time in a long gain on a monthly basis.

As president of Square had Andreas also made contact with the comparison shopping site Pricerunner who cooperated with the Square. Both Pricerunner and square built on the idea of attracting visitor traffic to a collection of portal with a lot of different subdivisions such as consumer electronics, CDs and books. The traffic from subdivisions, after it passed on to any shopping site, led to köpavslut got Pricerunner / Square paid for.

Andrew thought the idea was basically good, but it stuck too much. After months on the Square, he knew that it was relatively expensive to drive traffic to a broad umbrella portal. This meant that the profit margin on the visitors who eventually acted on any of the shopping sites fell.

Why not instead start a niche portal that drives further traffic to a single segment? It would be much cheaper to get traffic to such a site, but revenue per köpavslut could be as high as for the Square.

It could be a good deal. It was still just an idea that was being formed in Andrew's brain, but he felt he had something big on the tracks.

"He will be happy high risk, only upside is great. This applies both in business and at the poker table. "
Former colleague

June 2003. Andrew looked at the two men who were at the conference table in the venture capital company, Ekstrand's office, a few hundred meters from Stureplan.

Had they taken? And more importantly - would they dare to start one, maybe even two million dollars on his poker site? In the current situation was the most honest, a sketchy idea, but with enormous potential as Andreas eagerly argued during the tight half-hour presentation that lasted.

The guy on the left named Per Erik Nilsson, but everyone called him, PG. Andrew thought he seemed straight and good. The second man, a lawyer, he had spontaneously harder for. He seemed more to the weird, almost a bit arrogant.

Though currently played potential investors traits minor role. Andrew needed the money to get started. Since it was impossible to be nice at the edge.

For both Andrew and the two venture capitalists, it was clear that the only Ekstranda could help with was the capital. Otherwise, it was popular, at least publicly point out all the "soft values" as private equity firms brought their often newly established investment opportunity. There was talk often bragging about industrial skills, networks and experience, but PG Nilsson said frankly that Ekstranda neither understood the technology behind Andreas poker site or knew anything about the gaming industry.

However, the VC company money. A lot of money.

Behind Ekstranda stood, except PG Nelson (founder of Gold pub Sturehof) and lawyer, also twin brothers Stephen and Jan Bengtsson. The business press is used to give them the epithet "H & M brothers" because they inherited shares in the clothing giant, worth several billion of his mother, Sian, sister of H & M's largest shareholder, Stefan Persson.

It was also one of H & M brothers who were the direct cause of that Andreas was now at Ekstrand office. A few days earlier, Stefan Bengtsson come to Andrew after he presented his "case" for thirty venture capitalists and wealthy individuals in the Hotel Diplomat. They had exchanged business cards, and a few days later, the people from Ekstranda of himself and asked for a meeting.

In principle, Andreas made the same pull now that at the presentation at the hotel a week earlier. In his world, the business model was spot on and easy to understand:

To the left on the whiteboard, he wrote "raw material" - in this case, potential visitors to the poker sites. In the middle, he designed a large rectangular box. It was the "machine". Here they would be eager Internet surfers are lured in through search engines like Google.

Inside the "machine", or Pokerlistings that Andrew thought to call the site, ranked poker sites by different criteria. It could be about the site that offered the best gaming environment, the greatest bonuses and most players. To the right of "machine" he wrote, now "product" on the blackboard.

The whole idea of Pokerlistings was to redirect potential players to the poker sites. For every new registered customer who Pokerlistings delivered waited for a commission of around $ 100.

For Andrew was simple logic. The more visitors you might get into the "machine", the more finished "products", thus new poker customers, would be delivered to the poker sites.

On paper, it was pure alchemy, a money machine. Now he only needed capital to get started.

Private equity in Ekstranda was impressive. Although they are still not understood exactly how the "machine" working in practice, but after the presentation excited they were prepared to take chances. During the summer, made up the details and in September Ekstranda put the money into Pokerlistings account in two installments, a total of 1.5 million. For the operation was Ekstranda 25 percent of the shares.

It would be by far the best investment ever for Ekstranda. Still regret all those involved in the bitter days that it was made.


"He revolutionized an entire industry."
Contractors who followed Andrew career

Cash machine worked not only on paper but in reality.

With a new apartment in Manhattan as a base pushed Andrew in September 2003, the start button, and Pokerlistings.com became public. Although the start was a little hesitant, but when Andrew began to systematically buy up annonsord as "poker", "bonus" and "online poker" from Google increased visitor figures quickly. Once inside the site visitors were met by a smart design that the easiest way led them to the poker sites.

The same rate as the number of visitors grew, revenues increased to Poker Listings. Corporate organizational structure behind the site was located to confidential tax shelters, but documents DI Weekend have read show a tremendous variety in terms of both sales and profits. 2004 we had Pokerlistings 13 million and made an operating profit of 4.5 million. The following year ended the sale of 92 million and profits were somewhat improbable 55 million - a profit margin of nearly 60 percent.

Suddenly, everyone would play poker online and the market grew rapidly both in Europe and the USA. While the industry was still undeveloped on the Internet. Andrea servant early engineers specialized in so-called keyword optimization. They ensured that Pokerlistings repeatedly ended up at the top of Google's result lists of words related to poker. Basically, it was about figuring out what factors that make Google places a site higher up than another.

"Simplified, one could say that the technician's primary task was to circumvent Google's screening system," said a person with good insight into Pokerlistings activities.

Sometimes, however, was Andrew technologies a bit too smart and Pokerlistings stuck in Google's filtering system. The effect was that the site was shut down by Google's search engine over a few months. Short term, it was a heavy blow to sales, but in the longer term, it meant only a small notch in the company's growth curve. In 2006 Andreas counted with sales of 185 million and a profit of almost 120 million - a dream for a shareholder.

But among minority owner Ekstranda had discontent started to germinate.

"He was a tough negotiator."
Former business associate

Crass economic problems, it was pleasant, but Stefan Bengtsson still thought the situation was uneasy.

Sales continued to rush in Pokerlistings and now, at the end of December 2005, showed an independent valuation that the company was worth almost 1 billion. Of course it was amazing. Only after the stock dividend had Ekstranda regained its original stake several times.

But at the same time was Pokerlistings formal accounting beneath contempt. At best, you could have a spreadsheet with sales and earnings inputted. It would never be able to hold a regular audit - and how would Ekstranda know where the money came from? Poker, arms, or what?

Neither Stefan Bengtsson, or any of the partners in Ekstranda was sure of anything anymore.

Andreas away in New York had its part difficult to understand the minority owner's objection. This would be their lifetime investment, and when they had agreed two years earlier there had never been any question about any detailed account. Andrew had no time for such crap. He was too busy with running the daily operations.

Stefan Bengtsson, and the other on Ekstranda thought, however, not content with that answer. In the spring of 2006 they hired the law firm Hökberg & Söderqvist and Ernst & Young to review Pokerlistings activities. They went in depth about it, interviewed key personnel within the company, called its legal structure and analyzed the agreement.

Last week of July 2006 was the review completed. While the report authors expressed themselves in a bit more formal terms, the message was not to be misunderstood: Take the money and run!

What made Stefan Bengtsson really concerned about was not really that lawyers flagged for Pokerlistings activities could be illegal. It was in itself a risk estimate for all companies of this type.

No, it is alarming was the majority shareholder of a cinch could relocate to a different corporate structure. Remaining would just be a worthless shell Ekstranda was a partner in. The founder Andreas seemed admittedly serious, but only the risk did Stefan Bengtsson nervous.

The other three members were on the same track. In September 2006, the private equity firm regular negotiations on a sale.

As principal owner of Pokerlistings Andrew was the natural buyer and his negotiating position was relatively strong. Ekstranda wanted out of the company as soon as possible and had already been re-operation several times over through stock dividends. It took only a couple of phone calls across the Atlantic between Andrew and PG Nilsson, so the deal was done. Andrew would pay 50 million for the shares which Ekstranda given 1.5 million for just three years earlier.

Now remained only the details. Ekstranda took out a contract, signed it and sent it over to New York. But before Andrew could confirm the agreement by signing came suddenly a new person into the story: U.S. President George W. Bush.

"It was just complete chaos."
One of Andreas employees on the mood after that banned Internet gambling in U.S.

Andrew was upset, almost shocked, when he finally got hold of PG Nilsson in Stockholm on the afternoon of 1 October 2006.

"This is a disaster! Completely unbelievable. PG, we have to renegotiate the agreement, "he said by telephone from New York.

A few hours earlier, news exploded. George W. Bush had decided to dust off an old law from the 1920s, in its reinvention version dubbed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which effectively made all the games via the Internet banned in the United States. Almost overnight, was a multi-billion market crippled, and now chasing FBI agents in several of the poker industry's front figures.

Andrew, who had a large office in Manhattan, felt by no means certain. Several of his colleagues in the industry is already preparing a move, but it was not an option for him. Barely a year earlier he had married an inveterate New Yorker, and in November, their first child was born. The move was not on the map, and moreover he was confident that law problems would eventually blow over. But right now it was really serious and first of all, the purchase price to Ekstranda negotiated down.

Private equity in Ekstranda in Stockholm was not an ideal negotiating position. Sure, they had an oral agreement, but it was only they who have signed the formal contract. Words would be against the word and who knew where the market would have gone after a long and probably expensive lawsuit? They had actually only invested 1.5 million from the start - even if they were forced to pull of a few million on the price it would still be a brilliant affair.

On 20 October 2006 resumed negotiations. If the discussions in September had been a little strained, the mood now almost hostile. Andrew shouted to Stefan Bengtsson would stop fighting with his business associates, and Stefan Bengtsson threatened to make his auditors to turn inside out Pokerlistings activities.

Maybe it was all mostly a negotiating game from both sides. Stefan Bengtsson, his brother Jan Bengtsson and PG Nelson agreed that as soon as possible to get out of the investment. While Andrew was tired of the venture capital firm. For him, it was now just about to come as cheaply as possible.

The following day was a completely different tone when PG Nilsson telephoned from Andreas Ekstrand conference room with the speakerphone turned on. The other members were also in the office of Norrlandsgatan, but it had been agreed that PG, which had the greatest diplomatic talent alone would handle negotiations.

After an hour was one of the goals. Andrew started at 25 million and PG Nilsson at 50 million. Finally, they agreed at 36 million - one injection of 14 million from the original settlement.

All parties involved felt that the outcome of the hearing was acceptable. All except one: the lawyer who was one of Ekstrand's four shareholders. He did not seem able to digest that Andreas torn up their oral agreement regardless of whether George W. Bush enacted a new law or not. Agreement would be held, period.

It was the lawyer's attitude and he could not understand how Stefan Bengtsson, PG Nilsson and Jan Bengtsson could fold so easily.

Until now, in October 2006, there was nothing particularly odd in the relations between Andrew Oscarsson and venture capital company, Ekstrand. Tough negotiations, absolutely. But it is not unusual in business and the parties came relatively quickly to a solution.

But when the lawyer, who was still upset that Andrew had managed to haggle the price down by 14 million, told of the settlement of a friend took the deal suddenly a nasty turn. Lawyer friend was both a successful restaurateur and a man with good contacts in the criminal world.

Neither prosecutors, police or anyone else involved have managed to reveal in court what happened next.

But step by step, everything went to hell.


"Sell now and take care of your son.
You have earned enough money and do not hunt anymore. "
Andreas Dad January Oscar

Andrew did not understand anything. He had just finished a telephone conversation with his Swedish tax adviser. The data was worrying, not least for tax consultant himself, who was also a personal friend of Andreas.

On Christmas Eve, of all days, had tax consultant has been contacted by someone from a biker gang. Andrew did not know what to think, but his friend sounded upset.

Gang member had talked about any payment not made in time and aimed to deal with Ekstranda. What was this? Tax consultant had promised to take care of everything, he just wanted to keep Andreas informed. But it did not feel particularly soothing.

Barely two months later, just before Easter in 2007, beat Andrew new information from tax consultant. He had flown over to New York to meet him in person.

Afterwards told Andrew in police interviews that it was when he for the first time in quite understood the gravity of the situation. It was obvious that the tax consultant was feeling really bad mentally. Apparently it was so that the biker gang just taken the first contact. Instead, it was a restaurateur who was behind the requirements, and behind him there would be something really nasty bunch from Södertälje. So was the tax consultant in all cases got it.

The message from the chef was not to misinterpret: The first 36 million was just a down payment. There were 14 million left and if you did not pay so it would be more.

Afterwards Andrew had phoned Stefan Bengtsson on Ekstranda to get an explanation:

"What the hell is this about?" Almost shouted Andrew.

Stefan Bengtsson did not understand what he was talking about. They had of course no claim on Andrew, he could confirm in writing. And the chef who had described Andrew Stefan Bengtsson never heard of.

Andrew realized that Stefan Bengtsson told the truth. Why would such a person, a billionaire and a respected name in the Swedish business circles, engaging in extortion? Someone else must be behind, just like his friend the tax consultant is already suspect.

"The police have to go to the bottom of this."
Andreas in police questioning

A few minutes of ten on Wednesday morning, July 25, 2007 was Andreas Oscar's Swedish tax consultant out to fetch the newspaper. It was the first day of holiday and in the kitchen sat his wife and in-laws who were visiting from southern Sweden and had breakfast. On the surface a nice start to the day, but in the man felt a nagging concern. The past six months he had lived under severe strain.

Gradually had threats against him escalated. The weeks after Easter would have been terrible after that in which restaurateur, backed by four of five other big boys, had been looking for him at home in the villa and office. It was like a bad mafia movie.

After that incident, he and his family stayed at a hotel one time and received a special emergency telephone from the police. But the worst was still meeting with the manager at his restaurant in town before midsummer. He had gone there to show that he was not afraid, but it might have been a mistake. The meeting was suddenly three other people appeared, later he realized that they probably were members of the criminal gang which from Södertälje. One of the men had had one, or maybe even two large revolvers under his shirt as he showed up.

It would have been horrendous, and after it was tax consultant constantly on guard. Even now when he, wearing only a bathrobe, went out and fetch the newspaper.

The vigilance may have saved his life.

When he picked up the newspaper from the mailbox, he heard someone come running from behind. He turned quickly and there, maybe three four meters down the road, stood a man with a hood. Or one, he looked more like a boy, maybe 18-19 years old with staring, frightened eyes. The moment he saw the gun in the boy's right hand and that it was directed straight at him.

It's hard to say what caused him to act as he did, maybe some kind of survival reflex.

Instead of running away he rushed roaring against the armed man, who started running. The hunt lasted only a few dozen yards. Then the boy turned and fired, still running, three shots at him. The third bullet hit. It stung to the right leg, on top of the thigh.

The hunt was over. He hobbled back to the house and his wife alerted the police.

"Alexander was more than all the money in the world for Andrew."
Friend and co-workers

Was this turnaround? The past 24 months had actually been nightmarish for Andreas. While extortion scandal seemed to have peaked, with shots of his tax consultant in Vaxholm was Andrew himself has been embroiled in an infected child custody with his former wife for his son.

For almost two years he had fought in the State of New York's courts to get custody and now, a few weeks before Christmas 2008, had the good news arrived. A better Christmas present could not wish for. And as time passes without someone got in touch with new economic demands of the deal with Ekstranda, the safer he felt.

Professionally, Andrew had played a more modest role in Poker Listings, but in recent months he had become more active. Operations were also better. 2008 turnover was supposed to end on the same record level as before Bush got the idea to introduce its stopplag - turnover seemed to end up at some 200 million and profit around 100 million. Had Pokerlistings been listed the value of the Group be over 2 billion, and Andreas are still controlled the entire company.

But a stock market listing was not up to date. On the contrary, wanted Andrew to keep as low a profile as possible, especially after everything that had happened. Moreover waited tougher economic times. Poker boom in the U.S. was over a long time and growth in Europe, carved precariously. Andrew realized that he and the other management members would be forced to implement large-saving measures in the coming months to keep up they great high profit levels.

It was no fun decisions to make, but in light of what he himself lived through the last two years it was nothing that worried him.

"Andrew was so happy."
January Oscarsson the days before the murder

January Oscarsson stands perfectly still in front of the gravestone on the Göta Grove Cemetery. It is a raw cold day in mid-November 2010 and he shivers a little in the cold.

January Oscarsson do not know if he will ever recover from his son's death for almost a year and a half ago. It was he who made the grim discovery just before ten on Monday morning of 3 August 2009. Andreas lifeless in bed, just a few inches from his son Alexander, shot with six shots. An execution, nothing more.

The killer had entered the house through a bathroom window. In the room next to the bathroom slept Andrew and Alexander. All indications are that the killer lulled into Alexander and moved him away from his father before the murder took place.

When Jan Oscarsson talks about her son's last hours of life, he can not possibly hold the tears back. He goes to his grave almost every day. Two lights, one on each side of the stone in the massive Bohus granite, will always burn for Andrew, he explains.

Suddenly, in mid-sentence, almost rushing him up against the gravestone. Bends abruptly down and clap softly on the stone.

"My beloved Andrew," he says and his voice choke up again.

He gets up, takes a few steps back and everything is quiet again.


Epilogue

A few minutes after eleven on Lucia day's morning 2010 Svea Court of Appeal announced its ruling. The designated restaurateur, charged with attempted aggravated extortion against Andreas Oscar's tax consultant, is freed.

A now 21-year-old man was convicted two years earlier to prison for two years and four months for a shot at the tax consultant outside his house in Vaxholm.

Of judgment that restaurateur the night before the attack was in Vaxholm and then had telephone contact with the man who acted as chauffeur for the convicted 21-year old.

Tax Consultant dared not speak in connection with the Court of Appeal proceedings. He lives today at a secret address in Sweden.

The lawyer was fired from Ekstranda 2007 and now lives abroad.

Poker Listings and ancillary activities in 2010 to convert 300 million and a net profit of almost 100 million.

The estate inventory of Andreas Oscar's estate is expected to take several years.

501 days after his death is still no formal suspect in the murder.

Footnote. This article is based on a score of interviews, police interviews taken from two separate investigations and annual reports.

Stefan Lundell