(https://i.pinimg.com/280x280_RS/95/7f/da/957fda5d03d3dcdf919a39e481fafda8.jpg)
Did ACE & PGU start this whole mess with Book & the FBI??
PGU the biggest UofA fan website went down in mid February and the whole ACE died was used as a cover for the real reason the site was gone.
Rumor was that it was shut down due to tax evasion and that his computers were confiscated with the IRS coming down hard on him. The other rumor is that Miller had the site shutdown because if the Trier fiasco and the private info he was releasing.
ACE was getting his info from BOOK Richardson. Now that it's come to light that Book was taking money from agents(allegedly)it shows it would've been easy for someone like ACE, who bragged about having deep pockets to give Book a good chunk of change($5,000)for inside his inside info. Miller did suspend Book for leaking inside info to ACE. I believe ever since then Book has been trying to get back into Miller's good graces as he was almost let go. Until now it's been like an unspoken rule to not talk about it in order to not spread rumors about an Arizona assistant coach, but I see no need to hold back now.
So let's say his computers did get confiscated and the site got shut down. Maybe that is what helped start this whole mess. If the IRS did come after ACE then any contact with a UofA assistant coach would've thew up red flags.
This is all just a theory, but how horrible would it be to have one of the most hated (loved/worshipped) by many to actually somehow be a part of the scandal we find ourselves in today?
The time frames do match up with PGU going down in February(ACE faking his death) and Book starting to be watched by the FBI around that time.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4971AeUcAA_ZIb.jpg)
The above was posted on twitter when PGU went down
Either way if Book was trying to get back on Miller's good side it could've also played a part in all of this. Until last year we we weren't really recruiting up to the level Miler expected especially on the East Coast. Book may have been feeling the heat & started to do whatever it took to bring the players in. As he said in the reports it was to "get the ridiculous leverage with the program"
It really does make you think.
I actually floated this theory on day one to a reporter friend of mine. Said I watched to many crime dramas! ;D But I said ACE could easily have been a CI on the whole sting since it started in Las Vegas and then he "disappeared"!
Funny, when ace took the site down and faked his own death I attributed it to mental Heath issues.
I thought this also lol. The timing, the Vegas introduction, the falling out of favor with Arizona, the sudden shut down of the site, the egotistical nature of ACE and the fact that he would have squealed like a pig to federal authorities if he had anything that could have lowered his punishment(which judging by his very close contacts within the team/program, he did). He also surely knew about things happening w/ schools outside of Arizona as well because much of his life was spent following the AAU cesspool around the country. He surely would have known things. ATM extremely speculative.... but not impossible.
I'll say this. ACE liked to brag & he bragged about having an inside source on the team. It did get a while ago that it was Book and when Miller found out Book was in the dog house big time. What your saying makes total sense and could very well be a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon type thing.
Wow, who would've thought there would be another even bigger reason to hate ACE. Mind blown!!
Never had a hate for Ace. Did not like how rude he was at times with many posters and followers. He had a lot of TRUE inside info coming from Book. My take is this. Ace was Books connection as well as Ace was well connected to several AAU groups. When Ace did the disappearing act the inside stuff went away and Book had to find a new connection. That new connection is where Book got into trouble. It could well have been Ace to some degree, but I think it would have been a part of this mess of inside deals were made to get this stuff going. I have said too much already. But there is another side to that story. There is a reason I do not frequent other sites.
I talk often with people on those sites and stay up with what is going on, but sometimes they try to build excitement where there is none. That is how they keep people paying. That is how they make their money to keep there sites open. Respected but!
I will mention one guy for sure. I respect this guys words more than anyone else following Arizona sports. He doesn't worry about being first, but he is almost always right. That guy is Brad Ellis. If he says it, it is most likely good info period.
Some of those guys are real frauds but we are not here to condemn anyone.
I know LG knows, but I have followed Brad for some time and have similar feelings there. I like to watch, listen and read from almost all of the sports writers and then let Brad or LG confirm it. I miss him since he moved away. We road tripped a few games in the midwest from time to time when Arizona made it out this way. I knew that LG knew Ace but he never really talked a lot about it. Just would drop a hint or two from time to time about what was happening.
I like some aspects of each of the sites but have been on the scout site the longest. This site is cool as a fan site, but as it grows there will be people here just to screw it up because that is what they do. So I will enjoy it while I can. Just wish we were all enjoying a successful football season and building for a spectacular basketball season right now.
If I remember correctly didn't Ace predict Brian Bowen to Zona? I looked it up on twitter to search. Sure enough. He did say Brian Bowen was going to commit in a few days.
https://twitter.com/dashots_ua/status/852964181548474368 (https://twitter.com/dashots_ua/status/852964181548474368)
Exactly, he did say that UofA was going to get Bowen before PGU went down. That was his last prediction. Then poof.
How crazy is this? All of us from PGU.
Then there's always the tweets by the official PGU twitter a few days after he supposedly died. He talks about Bowen dated February 19 and the comments are about Arizona getting Bowen. Keeps making more sense with what's going on.
https://twitter.com/Blaxabbath/status/833391756842459136
It could also be as simple as Book says he's not going to give PGU anymore info. ACE being ACE picks up the phone & rats on Book.
Book gave ACE the info on Trier which was ultimately his downfall. Miller took notice when ACE was screaming from the hilltops about stuff that was private.
Ace is in witness protection as the Feds closed in on him for tax fraud and then he gave up the program. Once he gave up the program that is how book got targeted. This is strictly my opinion. It it's hard to believe pgu/ace didn't have a hand in this.
Quote from: Cats9701 on September 30, 2017, 07:14:00 PM
Ace is in witness protection as the Feds closed in on him for tax fraud and then he gave up the program. Once he gave up the program that is how book got targeted. This is strictly my opinion. It it's hard to believe pgu/ace didn't have a hand in this.
Ehhh. I'm skeptical. The timing is strange but I don't see a connection to Blazer Capital. I might need to re read the Vegas portions of the FBI report...
Timing matches up in February. What's strange is the biggest Wildcat forum closing down a month before March Madness because the owner faked his death. If ACE went down you bet he's taking people with him. I believe this might be more than just a theory.
Quote from: DWIZZ on September 30, 2017, 08:02:29 PM
Timing matches up in February. What's strange is the biggest Wildcat forum closing down a month before March Madness because the owner faked his death. If ACE went down you bet he's taking people with him. I believe this might be more than just a theory.
Where are all the other goons from that site? Or the guy who did recruit interviews and shit, Pras? Has he said anything on Ajay and all this bs?
There was always something more to his dying than death.
Sounds like you're in the know LG.
Don't say that too load. FBI may be watching. ;)
I have had some connections in the past and Ace was one of them, but never close on a personal level or a money matter either.
My time in the know is slipping away. Lots of factors involved.
I was on at PGU and got reamed for suggesting that paying for the private forum was really just impatience since everything eventually gets revealed...Ace dumped my personal info online and mocked me...I tried to delete my account but was not given the option...
This is what I can surmise from that...whoever Ace was he was incredibly insecure and one of the greatest demonstrations of that was his twitter account with him showing all the cars and cash and boats and bling...
Now here's the deal, Vegas is a business world, it might come across as a playground but having done construction there I can assure you it is business to its core, people who go around flashing money and bling get marked right away...there was even evidence in one off his tweets that he had been banned form a casino...now you don't get banned from a casino without either running up huge debt or doing shady shit, hell they let Hells Angels have gunfights in the lobbies...
All that bling does not go unnoticed, no way in hell he made that money from Gophermedia or PGU...you seriously think you're buying high end cars running a veterinarians website???
There is very little doubt (but also very little evidence) that he was not doing some kind of illegal shit, either tax evasion, or money laundering or perhaps even getting into the recruitment game for Adidas...and Vegas is the absolute WORST town to try and pull that crap...the Feds keep a pretty tight surveliance on every casino, the kinds of legal clearances and documentation that those casinos must submit to stay in good graces is deeper than your average political campaign...there are laws about recording every transaction over certain dollar amounts, hell even your local bank must report cash deposits over 10k to the feds...
There's no way a guy like Ace does not attract the wrong kind of attention...the timelines line up pretty well and there were even some photos at one time of Book at one of the parties...we know that Book got reprimanded by Miller for leaking info, THIS might be the silver lining in the whole mess...let me explain:
Book is an employee of the State of Az, as such he cannot get a reprimand without heavy documentation, this goes in "his file"...Miller cannot be expected by the NCAA to have wire taps and set up stings on his assistant coaches, without hard core evidence Miller cannot simply fire Book on a hunch...so this personal record might be enough proof that Miller was in compliance with the NCAA rule of "creating an atmosphere of compliance"...he has a recent record of reprimanding Book and then no hard evidence of his wrong doing that got him nabbed...so Book leaking stuff to Ace created the situation where Miller has a record of correction in his favor...
Here's my last theory...I think Book exonerates Miller...media day is Oct. 11-12, Books hearing is Oct. 10...he will probably cop a plea deal, but in doing so he will admit guilt and in that moment I think Book steps up to the plate and lets everyone hear him say "I acted alone without anyone's knowledge this is all on me"...
I trust that is the character that both he and Miller expect from one another...I know we all want to see Book strung up for smearing the UA, but lets not forget he loves these guys and he probably loves the UA...I think he will try to clean up his own mess.
Quote from: Little George on September 30, 2017, 09:00:01 PM
Don't say that too load. FBI may be watching. ;)
I have had some connections in the past and Ace was one of them, but never close on a personal level or a money matter either.
My time in the know is slipping away. Lots of factors involved.
Ummm......
Okay.
Quote from: Surgeon on September 30, 2017, 09:07:46 PM
Quote from: Little George on September 30, 2017, 09:00:01 PM
Don't say that too load. FBI may be watching. ;)
I have had some connections in the past and Ace was one of them, but never close on a personal level or a money matter either.
My time in the know is slipping away. Lots of factors involved.
Ummm......
Okay.
e
it is ok cause I am clean. Lol
Quote from: Lutesguitar on September 30, 2017, 09:06:02 PM
I was on at PGU and got reamed for suggesting that paying for the private forum was really just impatience since everything eventually gets revealed...Ace dumped my personal info online and mocked me...I tried to delete my account but was not given the option...
This is what I can surmise from that...whoever Ace was he was incredibly insecure and one of the greatest demonstrations of that was his twitter account with him showing all the cars and cash and boats and bling...
Now here's the deal, Vegas is a business world, it might come across as a playground but having done construction there I can assure you it is business to its core, people who go around flashing money and bling get marked right away...there was even evidence in one off his tweets that he had been banned form a casino...now you don't get banned from a casino without either running up huge debt or doing shady shit, hell they let Hells Angels have gunfights in the lobbies...
All that bling does not go unnoticed, no way in hell he made that money from Gophermedia or PGU...you seriously think you're buying high end cars running a veterinarians website???
There is very little doubt (but also very little evidence) that he was not doing some kind of illegal shit, either tax evasion, or money laundering or perhaps even getting into the recruitment game for Adidas...and Vegas is the absolute WORST town to try and pull that crap...the Feds keep a pretty tight surveliance on every casino, the kinds of legal clearances and documentation that those casinos must submit to stay in good graces is deeper than your average political campaign...there are laws about recording every transaction over certain dollar amounts, hell even your local bank must report cash deposits over 10k to the feds...
There's no way a guy like Ace does not attract the wrong kind of attention...the timelines line up pretty well and there were even some photos at one time of Book at one of the parties...we know that Book got reprimanded by Miller for leaking info, THIS might be the silver lining in the whole mess...let me explain:
Book is an employee of the State of Az, as such he cannot get a reprimand without heavy documentation, this goes in "his file"...Miller cannot be expected by the NCAA to have wire taps and set up stings on his assistant coaches, without hard core evidence Miller cannot simply fire Book on a hunch...so this personal record might be enough proof that Miller was in compliance with the NCAA rule of "creating an atmosphere of compliance"...he has a recent record of reprimanding Book and then no hard evidence of his wrong doing that got him nabbed...so Book leaking stuff to Ace created the situation where Miller has a record of correction in his favor...
Here's my last theory...I think Book exonerates Miller...media day is Oct. 11-12, Books hearing is Oct. 10...he will probably cop a plea deal, but in doing so he will admit guilt and in that moment I think Book steps up to the plate and lets everyone hear him say "I acted alone without anyone's knowledge this is all on me"...
I trust that is the character that both he and Miller expect from one another...I know we all want to see Book strung up for smearing the UA, but lets not forget he loves these guys and he probably loves the UA...I think he will try to clean up his own mess.
Nice and interesting first post. Ace was that way! Never thought we'd be talking about him now though that is for sure.
Quote from: Lutesguitar on September 30, 2017, 09:06:02 PM
I was on at PGU and got reamed for suggesting that paying for the private forum was really just impatience since everything eventually gets revealed...Ace dumped my personal info online and mocked me...I tried to delete my account but was not given the option...
This is what I can surmise from that...whoever Ace was he was incredibly insecure and one of the greatest demonstrations of that was his twitter account with him showing all the cars and cash and boats and bling...
Now here's the deal, Vegas is a business world, it might come across as a playground but having done construction there I can assure you it is business to its core, people who go around flashing money and bling get marked right away...there was even evidence in one off his tweets that he had been banned form a casino...now you don't get banned from a casino without either running up huge debt or doing shady shit, hell they let Hells Angels have gunfights in the lobbies...
All that bling does not go unnoticed, no way in hell he made that money from Gophermedia or PGU...you seriously think you're buying high end cars running a veterinarians website???
There is very little doubt (but also very little evidence) that he was not doing some kind of illegal shit, either tax evasion, or money laundering or perhaps even getting into the recruitment game for Adidas...and Vegas is the absolute WORST town to try and pull that crap...the Feds keep a pretty tight surveliance on every casino, the kinds of legal clearances and documentation that those casinos must submit to stay in good graces is deeper than your average political campaign...there are laws about recording every transaction over certain dollar amounts, hell even your local bank must report cash deposits over 10k to the feds...
There's no way a guy like Ace does not attract the wrong kind of attention...the timelines line up pretty well and there were even some photos at one time of Book at one of the parties...we know that Book got reprimanded by Miller for leaking info, THIS might be the silver lining in the whole mess...let me explain:
Book is an employee of the State of Az, as such he cannot get a reprimand without heavy documentation, this goes in "his file"...Miller cannot be expected by the NCAA to have wire taps and set up stings on his assistant coaches, without hard core evidence Miller cannot simply fire Book on a hunch...so this personal record might be enough proof that Miller was in compliance with the NCAA rule of "creating an atmosphere of compliance"...he has a recent record of reprimanding Book and then no hard evidence of his wrong doing that got him nabbed...so Book leaking stuff to Ace created the situation where Miller has a record of correction in his favor...
Here's my last theory...I think Book exonerates Miller...media day is Oct. 11-12, Books hearing is Oct. 10...he will probably cop a plea deal, but in doing so he will admit guilt and in that moment I think Book steps up to the plate and lets everyone hear him say "I acted alone without anyone's knowledge this is all on me"...
I trust that is the character that both he and Miller expect from one another...I know we all want to see Book strung up for smearing the UA, but lets not forget he loves these guys and he probably loves the UA...I think he will try to clean up his own mess.
Obviously Ace is way before my time, no idea until this week- but from what Ive been reading from all of you guys is it seems like him and Dawkins have similar traits lol. Not like there's any connection or anything, just a simple observation. Flamboyance/bragging, getting caught with your pants down. Just think it's funny
I wasn't close with ACE as some others were, but I was an ACE supporter in the beginning.
Then once the Private Forum REALLY took off, and ACE and his mods were adding/dropping people, members of the site began to beg to get in like it was cocaine or something.
That is when the site began to turn for the worse to me.
It was like two different sites going on at the same time.
It was ACE and his people that knew everything that was going on with the program, and then those that wanted to get in and (seemed) willing to do whatever it took to get in.
At that point, I didn't really like the site.
The people I was closer to were "in the know" and then they stopped coming to the public forums because the quality of the threads were trash.
Then ACE would pop in and start banning people and go on his rants and whatnot, people start ****-riding hoping to get a glimpse into the Private Forum (I was one at one point) and it made a lot of the good memories I had on PGU meaningless.
The Private Forum ruined PGU and it is not even close..
I can tell you first hand how many messages I would get from him literally trying to micro-manage what I posted. He knew how thorough of a fan I was of the team and anything I would say that would be objective to anything he said he would either tell me to stop in a rude manner or he would delete my posts. He probably deleted like 10 posts of mine.
I'm literally just stunned how weird this all is. PGU changed everything for us fans that were searching for a legit fan site for Zona. It was so superior of all the others. Saying that. I'm hoping that huge shift from mediocre to exactly what we were all looking for IS NOT correlated with when the scandal trickled into Arizona waters. You guys know what I'm saying?
Here's video of Pras who I thought was ACE talking to Gordon & Ronde before they started playing for UofA. There's a lot of videos of him interviewing future CATS & AAU players players on YouTube.
I could be wrong but I'm like 95% sure that is Pras, not ACE
Lol, I always thought that was ACE. Anybody got a pic of ACE?
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/2596452741/age_36.jpg)
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yBOr7ZfFqvM/maxresdefault.jpg)
PGU was a strange, strange place..
I always thought Ace and Pras were the same dude to be honest with you.
I ended up taking a 2 or 3 month ban for simply mentioning the name of a journalist that Ace apparently didn't like in chat. That guy was as off the wall as they come. Many people thought he was legitimately mentally ill based on the way he carried himself.
Holy Shit, I thought the guy in the Video was ACE the whole time and never saw a pic of him. Yeah, I got banned for questioning his whole Trier is back announcement and he wrote a message on the ban that said "never question your Master" I was like WTF. Lol
Pras for sure! Does the best interviews on the planet. He moved to Florida several years ago and hasn't done interviews since. Great guy though and moving on with his life.
Best interviews on the planet?? ::)
ACE got his money from his family trust fund, THE HARENDRA & SMITA THAKORE FAMILY TRUST. He was surely not some extremely ingenious business man as he claimed. He certainly did not make it from providing SEO services to veterinary offices. If Book was providing ACE his info, you can be sure it wasnt free. ACE was a psychotic wacko who wanted us all to believe that he had achieved some massive success.
I've had more than 1 person tell me that ACE was also getting info from Damon. I had 1 person who says he even got info from Archie, but I can't see that happening.
Well he was clearly blowing his family's money so he could be the master of Arizona Basketball insider information lol
Long time PGU follower that admittedly missed the "inside info" Ace gave us. But looking back at that now, I am shamed that I participated in what became a pretty sordid mess. My mea culpa. We need to learn from this and hopefully keep this site above that crap. As someone posted earlier on this thread, maybe we can be more patient in our demands for "breaking news"
Quote from: CatinBama on September 30, 2017, 09:34:51 PM
Quote from: Lutesguitar on September 30, 2017, 09:06:02 PM
I was on at PGU and got reamed for suggesting that paying for the private forum was really just impatience since everything eventually gets revealed...Ace dumped my personal info online and mocked me...I tried to delete my account but was not given the option...
This is what I can surmise from that...whoever Ace was he was incredibly insecure and one of the greatest demonstrations of that was his twitter account with him showing all the cars and cash and boats and bling...
Now here's the deal, Vegas is a business world, it might come across as a playground but having done construction there I can assure you it is business to its core, people who go around flashing money and bling get marked right away...there was even evidence in one off his tweets that he had been banned form a casino...now you don't get banned from a casino without either running up huge debt or doing shady shit, hell they let Hells Angels have gunfights in the lobbies...
All that bling does not go unnoticed, no way in hell he made that money from Gophermedia or PGU...you seriously think you're buying high end cars running a veterinarians website???
There is very little doubt (but also very little evidence) that he was not doing some kind of illegal shit, either tax evasion, or money laundering or perhaps even getting into the recruitment game for Adidas...and Vegas is the absolute WORST town to try and pull that crap...the Feds keep a pretty tight surveliance on every casino, the kinds of legal clearances and documentation that those casinos must submit to stay in good graces is deeper than your average political campaign...there are laws about recording every transaction over certain dollar amounts, hell even your local bank must report cash deposits over 10k to the feds...
There's no way a guy like Ace does not attract the wrong kind of attention...the timelines line up pretty well and there were even some photos at one time of Book at one of the parties...we know that Book got reprimanded by Miller for leaking info, THIS might be the silver lining in the whole mess...let me explain:
Book is an employee of the State of Az, as such he cannot get a reprimand without heavy documentation, this goes in "his file"...Miller cannot be expected by the NCAA to have wire taps and set up stings on his assistant coaches, without hard core evidence Miller cannot simply fire Book on a hunch...so this personal record might be enough proof that Miller was in compliance with the NCAA rule of "creating an atmosphere of compliance"...he has a recent record of reprimanding Book and then no hard evidence of his wrong doing that got him nabbed...so Book leaking stuff to Ace created the situation where Miller has a record of correction in his favor...
Here's my last theory...I think Book exonerates Miller...media day is Oct. 11-12, Books hearing is Oct. 10...he will probably cop a plea deal, but in doing so he will admit guilt and in that moment I think Book steps up to the plate and lets everyone hear him say "I acted alone without anyone's knowledge this is all on me"...
I trust that is the character that both he and Miller expect from one another...I know we all want to see Book strung up for smearing the UA, but lets not forget he loves these guys and he probably loves the UA...I think he will try to clean up his own mess.
Obviously Ace is way before my time, no idea until this week- but from what Ive been reading from all of you guys is it seems like him and Dawkins have similar traits lol. Not like there's any connection or anything, just a simple observation. Flamboyance/bragging, getting caught with your pants down. Just think it's funny
First off his name isn't ace. He's not a fighter pilot or some street fighter character. His name is Ajay Thakore and he is a laughably small person with the physicality of a thin mint. That said, he talked shit like he was someone who could back it but it was all a charade. He basically duped naive people into thinking he was some kind of authority when all he was doing was giving kickbacks to get information. So in that sense he was an authority, and it exploded his ego those of his minions as well. PGU appeared to have some almost Scientology like following, as evidenced by the posts above.
give this a read if you haven't: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/media-watch/Content?oid=5028027
Surgeon,
You just stated a bunch of obvious information and have absolutely no idea what PGU was. Congrats you know his name. We all knew his name?????????? Please just stay off this thread if you dont have a clue what youre talking about. Comparing it to Scientology is insulting.
Quote from: ZonaBBB on October 02, 2017, 12:15:52 PM
Surgeon,
You just stated a bunch of obvious information and have absolutely no idea what PGU was. Congrats you know his name. We all knew his name?????????? Please just stay off this thread if you dont have a clue what youre talking about. Comparing it to Scientology is insulting.
I replied to someone who said they didn't know Ajay, not you. I know what I need to know. If you're insulted for because I'm asserting that many people of that site backed a very clearly mentally unstable, abusive lunatic then be insulted. I was at PGU for years and have my own shit with Ajay. I'll say what I want.
Calling the folks that are from PGU naive, minions is not acceptable. The site Ace ran was entertaining, far better than anything out there (for Zona fans), had legit content. Not just inside scoop. Great conversation. A ring of fantastic fans. I think I speak for most of the members by saying, Pipe it down buddy.
Quote from: ZonaBBB on October 02, 2017, 12:20:43 PM
Calling the folks that are from PGU naive, minions is not acceptable. The site Ace ran was entertaining, far better than anything out there (for Zona fans), had legit content. Not just inside scoop. Great conversation. A ring of fantastic fans. I think I speak for most of the members by saying, Pipe it down buddy.
The naive minions were the select few. Again, I still used the site to get info and chat with fellow fans as it was a good platform. But I was very aware how fucked up Ajay was. Don't try to censor me by telling me to go away. I'm explaining to an Arizona fan who is unaware of the past situation. I have zero beef with you or any fellow fans.
Quote from: ZonaBBB on October 02, 2017, 12:15:52 PM
Surgeon,
You just stated a bunch of obvious information and have absolutely no idea what PGU was. Congrats you know his name. We all knew his name?????????? Please just stay off this thread if you dont have a clue what youre talking about. Comparing it to Scientology is insulting.
Cmon now. This is why many of us hated that site because too many people followed up comments like this. Are we going to bring back the all too familiar PGU memes that made people wish they never posted as well? Lets keep it friendly and not become what we hated.
Whoa, lets keep it civil here guys. We don't want this to turn into what was the worst part of PGU.
Quote from: Surgeon on October 02, 2017, 12:25:13 PM
Quote from: ZonaBBB on October 02, 2017, 12:20:43 PM
Calling the folks that are from PGU naive, minions is not acceptable. The site Ace ran was entertaining, far better than anything out there (for Zona fans), had legit content. Not just inside scoop. Great conversation. A ring of fantastic fans. I think I speak for most of the members by saying, Pipe it down buddy.
The naive minions were the select few. Again, I still used the site to get info and chat with fellow fans as it was a good platform. But I was very aware how fucked up Ajay was. Don't try to censor me by telling me to go away. I'm explaining to an Arizona fan who is unaware of the past situation. I have zero beef with you or any fellow fans.
Ummm not everyone was naive about who the child of seemingly Indian descent was, I knew he was just a braggadocios punk, I (and others quoting me) used his name "Ace" because thats the persona he used on PGU, he did not use another name...if you read my post that is quoted you will see that I also used the site regularly until he exposed my personal information, at that point I elected to stay away and it was pretty close to the end anyway, it might help if you turned your condescension and assumption settings down a little.
If you think for one minute I did not immediately do all the detailed searching I could about who he was and where he worked after he exposed my personal information online then perhaps you don't know me as well as you assume you do...I can tell you where he lived, where he stayed in San Diego, where he took the pictures of his cars and what casinos had banned him and I sure as hell did not get that information by googling :"Ace"
I think its fair to allow people who might not have known much about the site to use "Ace" since we all pretty much hate what that moniker stood for in UA fanboards.
this came out there in today's paper.
"In March, FBI agents watched as Mr. Soon met with several people at a restaurant in Las Vegas. Prosecutors alleged it was a meeting to arrange paying basketball coaches at the university of Arizona."
The article goes in pretty good depth of painting the timeline. Blazer was desperate to give investigators some kind of criminal activity he could to lighten his future sentence (which according to documents can be between two and 64 years) so he started reaching out to people. He had reached out to a partner, Sood, to work with Dawkins to land recruits. This is where it gets interesting. Basically Sood and Dawkins went behind Blazers back and started doing deals on their own (with undercover FBI agents posing as investors). Essentially Arizona got involved when Sood notified Blazer (who by this time was wire tapped) about his meeting in Vegas regarding Arizona. So, how does Sood know PGU?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-man-who-started-college-basketballs-armageddon-1506902378
Quote from: Lutesguitar on October 02, 2017, 01:04:00 PM
Quote from: Surgeon on October 02, 2017, 12:25:13 PM
Quote from: ZonaBBB on October 02, 2017, 12:20:43 PM
Calling the folks that are from PGU naive, minions is not acceptable. The site Ace ran was entertaining, far better than anything out there (for Zona fans), had legit content. Not just inside scoop. Great conversation. A ring of fantastic fans. I think I speak for most of the members by saying, Pipe it down buddy.
The naive minions were the select few. Again, I still used the site to get info and chat with fellow fans as it was a good platform. But I was very aware how fucked up Ajay was. Don't try to censor me by telling me to go away. I'm explaining to an Arizona fan who is unaware of the past situation. I have zero beef with you or any fellow fans.
Ummm not everyone was naive about who the child of seemingly Indian descent was, I knew he was just a braggadocios punk, I (and others quoting me) used his name "Ace" because thats the persona he used on PGU, he did not use another name...if you read my post that is quoted you will see that I also used the site regularly until he exposed my personal information, at that point I elected to stay away and it was pretty close to the end anyway, it might help if you turned your condescension and assumption settings down a little.
If you think for one minute I did not immediately do all the detailed searching I could about who he was and where he worked after he exposed my personal information online then perhaps you don't know me as well as you assume you do...I can tell you where he lived, where he stayed in San Diego, where he took the pictures of his cars and what casinos had banned him and I sure as hell did not get that information by googling :"Ace"
I think its fair to allow people who might not have known much about the site to use "Ace" since we all pretty much hate what that moniker stood for in UA fanboards.
I had a similar experience. But I wasn't addressing your post. There was a guy who posted early on saying something like "ace was before my time". Pretty sure most people came to the same conclusion on their own regarding PGU's leader. I just wanted to paint my picture. There was some bizarre stuff going on not only in general, but within his inner circle. It was weird man.
Quote from: Surgeon on October 02, 2017, 01:05:38 PM
this came out there in today's paper.
"In March, FBI agents watched as Mr. Soon met with several people at a restaurant in Las Vegas. Prosecutors alleged it was a meeting to arrange paying basketball coaches at the university of Arizona."
The article goes in pretty good depth of painting the timeline. Blazer was desperate to give investigators some kind of criminal activity he could to lighten his future sentence (which according to documents can be between two and 64 years) so he started reaching out to people. He had reached out to a partner, Sood, to work with Dawkins to land recruits. This is where it gets interesting. Basically Sood and Dawkins went behind Blazers back and started doing deals on their own (with undercover FBI agents posing as investors). Essentially Arizona got involved when Sood notified Blazer (who by this time was wire tapped) about his meeting in Vegas regarding Arizona. So, how does Sood know PGU?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-man-who-started-college-basketballs-armageddon-1506902378
Can u imagine whats going to come out when all of these coaches start spilling their guts to lower their sentences? It is going to touch at least half of D1 Men's BBall in one form or another. I hear some of this stuff and I wonder how it doesn't constitute entrapment. Obviously it doesn't but a lot of it sounds as if Book was baited into this. Not justifying his actions by any means.
Quote from: dashots_UA on October 02, 2017, 01:42:50 PM
Quote from: Surgeon on October 02, 2017, 01:05:38 PM
this came out there in today's paper.
"In March, FBI agents watched as Mr. Soon met with several people at a restaurant in Las Vegas. Prosecutors alleged it was a meeting to arrange paying basketball coaches at the university of Arizona."
The article goes in pretty good depth of painting the timeline. Blazer was desperate to give investigators some kind of criminal activity he could to lighten his future sentence (which according to documents can be between two and 64 years) so he started reaching out to people. He had reached out to a partner, Sood, to work with Dawkins to land recruits. This is where it gets interesting. Basically Sood and Dawkins went behind Blazers back and started doing deals on their own (with undercover FBI agents posing as investors). Essentially Arizona got involved when Sood notified Blazer (who by this time was wire tapped) about his meeting in Vegas regarding Arizona. So, how does Sood know PGU?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-man-who-started-college-basketballs-armageddon-1506902378
Can u imagine whats going to come out when all of these coaches start spilling their guts to lower their sentences? It is going to touch at least half of D1 Men's BBall in one form or another. I hear some of this stuff and I wonder how it doesn't constitute entrapment. Obviously it doesn't but a lot of it sounds as if Book was baited into this. Not justifying his actions by any means.
I think the FBI stopped before it could get big enough to bring down everyone. They had been at it for three years before anything materialized and wanted desperately to show something for their work.
A bit more on Munish Sood-
http://www.newsindiatimes.com/indian-american-munish-sood-arrested-in-college-basketball-fraud-scheme/30323
I have been a fan since '75 and I just want to vent a little. If someone else has already pointed this out forgive me. What I just don't understand is how a high level college coach making high 5 to 6 figure income is willing to destroy a programs reputation for, what, more money??? Are you fucking kidding me? My first year in the military I was making $500.00 A MONTH...and I did the best I could without cheating, and yes some were. They would sell things the government gave them on the black market, I didn't like that either but, I understood it, the guys were just trying to keep food on their family's table. The justification for cheating, at the level of pay these coaches make... There is none, the World has gone mad, and Money is the God.
Entertaining thread.
My username @ PGU, was "Old Guy," my good buddy Ace changed it for me, not once but twice, after I suggested he was a bully. I can't remember the first name change, because it was more a paragraph, that a title. It included the words, . . . small penis . . . and I asked him how he found out? A normal person would have at least posted a LOL, but no. After the second username change, I observed from a distance, or not at all. All good things come to an end.
That said, I enjoy this site, even if I don't participate with regularity. I especially enjoy the videos, but the articles aren't too shabby either. Keep up the good work!
Another UofA site is now saying that a former Arizona site owner is right in the middle of the Book FBI situation. He says it's per a former insider. This is crazy!!
Quote from: DWIZZ on October 12, 2017, 08:34:20 PM
Another UofA site is now saying that a former Arizona site owner is right in the middle of the Book FBI situation. He says it's per a former insider. This is crazy!!
Time frame is right on.
Can you put the link to it DWIZZ?
Sure, see link below for the post was talking about
http://arizonafootballonline.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37223
I had never thought about this, but the theory just blew my mind a little bit!
I still think ACE was involved in this with Book and the timing of everything the way it happened.
Ace was a piece of shit and a coward and knew too much, someone who is that big of an asshole, especially online, does not just disappear into thin air like he did. Unless he was threatened or was not legally allowed to. Seriously, PGU guys think about it...
Everything is 20/20 in hindsight. This theory about ACE being involved seems more and more likely as we get fed bits and pieces of info from the investigation.
So the conspiracy theory is that Ace is the FBI informant whom also leaked this payout to ESPN. His motive behind all this is that he had Book paid for information about the team that he could sell to us fans but Miller got wind and cut it off so Ace decided to burn Miller to the ground. Everyone else is just a casualty.
And Miller and the UA knew this was going to pose potential problems a while ago so came to an agreement to part ways after the season. But it wasn't going to happen with a good payout unless Miller did well in the tourney and handed a successful program off. So miller told Romar he has secured him a future head coaching gig knowing that only a coach like Romar with strong recruiting could help UA keep his incoming class.
What Miller and UA didn't know was the extent of Ace's ire and that everyone was going down in flames. So when Book got arrested, Miller and Arizona went into damage prevention mode and it was way better than Ace saw coming. They neutered him and Ace saw Miller potentially walking away from all this so called ESPN. ESPN having gotten many stories from PGU knew this to be solid so ran with it.
And so here we are today with Romar being our new coach next year just a little early and it was all planned anyways.
I haven't read this whole thread and probably none of this is true but it's great fun and great fodder.
The more and more that is ugly situation plays out, I believe that at some point ACE might have something to do with all of this. For those who did not follow PGU, all of this would seem "off the deep end", but for those who did know that ACE was really rude to some of the followers. Especially when they aimed at him or gave his so-called credit to someone else, then he would really get insulting. So if Miller gave Book the order to stop feeding ACE information, it must have really pissed him off and started this whole mess. I for one was hesitant to post sometimes on PGU for that fact alone, but I am still hesitant to post stuff here at times. At least on this site there is no bashing from the moderators, which is a nice change. I for one would visit PGU religiously and I do the same for this site. But this just my two cents on this thread.
I have speculated that ACE was involved but only parenthetically...I was on his site and he treated me like crap, exposed personal information and mocked my faith, I was not even able to delete my account...
But my speculation centers more on his lifestyle and snippets I heard, he was a big fan of gambling and flashing money, trying to play the part of a big time party dude flashing bling and cars and money like there was no tomorrow...
But he was in Vegas...in Sin City the mob was overcome by the IRS...as much as you like to think of Vegas as a mafia town you'd be better served to think of it as a Tax town...flashing money in front of IRS high profile communities is just asking for an agent to be assigned to you, or at minimum an audit.
I think the IRS raided Aces place and confiscated his computers...and agent spent a month going through some shoddy book-keeping and a ton of pictures and stumbled upon a college recruit embezzlement program...
Out of his jurisdiction he turns it over to the FBI, who just so happen to already have some of the players connected...they move on EVERYONE ACE is doing business with and find his web company is legit and being run by his relative...but Ace is done...his money flashing days are over...
As far as his connection to Book he did not break any laws, it's his tax evasion that gets him knockered...depending on the degree and severity of his tax bill he's either serving time or working for minimum wage paying off a huge tax bill the rest of his life.
The FBI however finds substantial connections to verify that Book was dirty...which simply adds to the case they already have been building against dawkins.
One thing I did find interesting in the Dawkins spreadsheet provided by Yahoo Sports that names names and represents expenditures from dawkins is there is an account there for "Ace 4N LLC"...it is at minimum interesting, and might explain where Ace got all that cash he flashed.
Just speculation on my part though as is all of this.
I saw that too LutesGuitar, but I think it says Ace-In LLC. What are the odds? I circled it in red below.
(http://image.ibb.co/hS55kx/20180226_222750.jpg)
You are right WildcatAZfan...it does say Ace-In...hahaha...what are the chances that he WAS hooked up with Dawkins and he funnelled Book to him?
He was at some point trying desperately to connect to recruits and interview them etc...he went to AAU events and tried to get them on video...there's a good chance he and Dawkins met and ran in the same culture of bling and bull**it
How odd...I don't see any UofA players on there. Do I need glasses? Me thinks not.
I think everyone is giving Ace too much credit. Was he involved with Book and pissed Miller off ? Yes - how much power and/or details he had on Book's involvement ? who knows - I'm just doubtful he had enough to bring down the University - and if he did ? Beyond scum
I may be wrong but this was not Ace. His businesses/web sites never ran under this name to my knowledge. He also did not have need of the money. However if it was to take from one and give to another it could have been. Also, while the PPU site shut down immediately, his other businesses did not. He had people in place to run some of them. Pras left PGU site to work in another office in Florida. One of Ace's other offices that Pras was running. That is why Pras disappeared from the site much sooner.
Book was definitely Ace's connection and Miller did cut that off. Ace had a temper issue as well and i would not doubt that he is involved in all this mess one way or the other. Maybe that is where tbe leaking is coming from and why it is Arizona and Miller that are the targets? That would all make sense now that I think about it.
I was hoping Ace would just learn from the experience and move on as a spectator/fan letting Arizona be Arizona.
https://www.lajollalight.com/news/story/2021-12-07/10-million-lawsuit-against-la-jolla-pizza-restaurant-alleges-harassment-and-discrimination
Interesting read about Ajay or Ace or Thakore or Rogers or whatever . . . .
Quote from: Surgeon on October 02, 2017, 11:57:02 AM
Quote from: CatinBama on September 30, 2017, 09:34:51 PM
Quote from: Lutesguitar on September 30, 2017, 09:06:02 PM
I was on at PGU and got reamed for suggesting that paying for the private forum was really just impatience since everything eventually gets revealed...Ace dumped my personal info online and mocked me...I tried to delete my account but was not given the option...
This is what I can surmise from that...whoever Ace was he was incredibly insecure and one of the greatest demonstrations of that was his twitter account with him showing all the cars and cash and boats and bling...
Now here's the deal, Vegas is a business world, it might come across as a playground but having done construction there I can assure you it is business to its core, people who go around flashing money and bling get marked right away...there was even evidence in one off his tweets that he had been banned form a casino...now you don't get banned from a casino without either running up huge debt or doing shady shit, hell they let Hells Angels have gunfights in the lobbies...
All that bling does not go unnoticed, no way in hell he made that money from Gophermedia or PGU...you seriously think you're buying high end cars running a veterinarians website???
There is very little doubt (but also very little evidence) that he was not doing some kind of illegal shit, either tax evasion, or money laundering or perhaps even getting into the recruitment game for Adidas...and Vegas is the absolute WORST town to try and pull that crap...the Feds keep a pretty tight surveliance on every casino, the kinds of legal clearances and documentation that those casinos must submit to stay in good graces is deeper than your average political campaign...there are laws about recording every transaction over certain dollar amounts, hell even your local bank must report cash deposits over 10k to the feds...
There's no way a guy like Ace does not attract the wrong kind of attention...the timelines line up pretty well and there were even some photos at one time of Book at one of the parties...we know that Book got reprimanded by Miller for leaking info, THIS might be the silver lining in the whole mess...let me explain:
Book is an employee of the State of Az, as such he cannot get a reprimand without heavy documentation, this goes in "his file"...Miller cannot be expected by the NCAA to have wire taps and set up stings on his assistant coaches, without hard core evidence Miller cannot simply fire Book on a hunch...so this personal record might be enough proof that Miller was in compliance with the NCAA rule of "creating an atmosphere of compliance"...he has a recent record of reprimanding Book and then no hard evidence of his wrong doing that got him nabbed...so Book leaking stuff to Ace created the situation where Miller has a record of correction in his favor...
Here's my last theory...I think Book exonerates Miller...media day is Oct. 11-12, Books hearing is Oct. 10...he will probably cop a plea deal, but in doing so he will admit guilt and in that moment I think Book steps up to the plate and lets everyone hear him say "I acted alone without anyone's knowledge this is all on me"...
I trust that is the character that both he and Miller expect from one another...I know we all want to see Book strung up for smearing the UA, but lets not forget he loves these guys and he probably loves the UA...I think he will try to clean up his own mess.
Obviously Ace is way before my time, no idea until this week- but from what Ive been reading from all of you guys is it seems like him and Dawkins have similar traits lol. Not like there's any connection or anything, just a simple observation. Flamboyance/bragging, getting caught with your pants down. Just think it's funny
First off his name isn't ace. He's not a fighter pilot or some street fighter character. His name is Ajay Thakore and he is a laughably small person with the physicality of a thin mint. That said, he talked shit like he was someone who could back it but it was all a charade. He basically duped naive people into thinking he was some kind of authority when all he was doing was giving kickbacks to get information. So in that sense he was an authority, and it exploded his ego those of his minions as well. PGU appeared to have some almost Scientology like following, as evidenced by the posts above.
give this a read if you haven't: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/media-watch/Content?oid=5028027
Jeez. Why spend the money to go through the legal process when you know the judge will just grant a restraining order in the end.
Silly dispute...
All Ace did was pass along inside information. He didn't "predict" anything.
I give him credit that he was able to accurately predict whether recruits would commit...based on inside info. The dude had some great sources because he was rarely wrong on the recruiting trail.
I will admit to having finally read this full thread with a sense of wtf nostalgia. I was never an insider and more of a lurker on PGU; I liked hearing about recruits, but had a disdain for the rest.
Quote from: WILD on October 01, 2017, 09:38:58 AM
Here's video of Pras who I thought was ACE talking to Gordon & Ronde before they started playing for UofA. There's a lot of videos of him interviewing future CATS & AAU players players on YouTube.
100% Pras. I met both Ace and Pras at a PGU VIP event in Tempe the night before the UA/ASU game during the '10 '11 season. We got to meet the entire team : Miller, Hill, Mayes, Wize, Perry, Parrom, Horne, Williams, Momo, Foggy. What a team !!.... I won a basketball signed by the entire team at the raffle. Sat at a table with Bus/What's Up and his wife and my wife.... awesome time
Quote from: FOOS on January 12, 2022, 08:57:01 AM
Quote from: WILD on October 01, 2017, 09:38:58 AM
Here's video of Pras who I thought was ACE talking to Gordon & Ronde before they started playing for UofA. There's a lot of videos of him interviewing future CATS & AAU players players on YouTube.
100% Pras. I met both Ace and Pras at a PGU VIP event in Tempe the night before the UA/ASU game during the '10 '11 season. We got to meet the entire team : Miller, Hill, Mayes, Wize, Perry, Parrom, Horne, Williams, Momo, Foggy. What a team !!.... I won a basketball signed by the entire team at the raffle. Sat at a table with Bus/What's Up and his wife and my wife.... awesome time
Somebody actually married Bus? A human?
Holy shit that's bravery
I can completely see the pain of marriage in every word catbust posts. Definitely Pras. Ace was a very strange person, with weird phobias and quarks. Dude seemed bi-polar, would switch on and off. Life is too short to tolerate people like that. I think he still sends me hate texts...
Pras is one of the nicest and most genuine dudes you'll ever meet. Tucson native that was good at his job because he actually loves the Cats.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on January 12, 2022, 11:57:50 AM
Pras is one of the nicest and most genuine dudes you'll ever meet. Tucson native that was good at his job because he actually loves the Cats.
No doubt! Awesome young man.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on January 12, 2022, 11:57:50 AM
Pras is one of the nicest and most genuine dudes you'll ever meet. Tucson native that was good at his job because he actually loves the Cats.
What did Ajax do to him? He seems to have "died" with pgu. I've definitely never seen him or heard his name since that trash (which he stood by for) ended.
I think he had a real day job, even while helping with PGU. He's likely out in the workforce these days. Unfortunately, I'm disconnected for social media (outside of BDU) and won't move back to Tucson until retirement.
Not that it matters anymore but someone messaged me and sent me to an Instagram account that appeared to be ACE.
I believe it was on another thread on here, or maybe a DM where that conversation took place.
There were some similarities to that man and ACE, but to be honest, I literally fell for the scandal and actually thought the man passed away.
I remember one time the "cool kids" ran an entire prank on the site that said Lute Olson (RIP) was coming out of retirement to coach at USC.
They had the ESPN setup and everything!
(This also happened before I knew anything about the lengths someone could go with a computer and right mods/programs)
I went nuts and posted for about 2-3 days on the matter before someone let the cat out the bag and told me it was fake.
What's the point?
There were times when that site was like my 2nd home.
There are still names I remember that I was cool with, and I miss them
Some made their way to this site, some went to the other Arizona site, and others just left altogether.
Then there are times when PGU felt like a high school; if you were in then cool, and it you weren't, then you might have been made fun of as several in this thread has already said.
Good and bad memories from that site, but what is done is done..
Bump..I didn't know this site has been around since 2017...Interesting read, and where are all these members now involved in this 9 page thread about Ace/PGU
@WILD
Quote from: TooStonedCat on February 14, 2023, 04:20:32 PM
Bump..I didn't know this site has been around since 2017...Interesting read, and where are all these members now involved in this 9 page thread about Ace/PGU @WILD
One of them is right here.
#BearDown
Had lunch with Ace, Applequest and a few other PGU'ers at the Maui Invitational many years ago.
It was a great little online community but unlike BDU, you didn't have the freedom to say whatever was on your mind (without being moderated or banned).
Chat roulette was the funniest shit.
I think on other sites i have seen posts about him popping up in some news stories. I never met Ace nor do i know what he looks like. I have heard this is him any one for sure?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvDVWO2F-2U
What an idiot spending 175,000 dollars decorating for the holidays. You can buy a average to well above average house for that kind of money!!
I set this topic to stick at the top of the basketball forum for anyone who wants to go back in time and read through the comments for nostalgia.