Tony from 5dimes
Here's a little something.
Yesterday the body of American online sportsbook maker William Sean Creighton, founder of 5 Dimes, was discovered in a cemetery in Quepos, Costa Rica.
The Star had reported his abduction and murder one year ago, a story picked up by the international press, but hotly contested by the family’s lawyer and by 5 Dimes management. The Star never retracted the story.
Now, in a modest cemetery with a humble tombstone with no name, the remains of Creighton has been discovered at last. No cause of death has been confirmed yet, and officials have not revealed how the body was discovered.
ESPN aired a statement earlier this week, provided by the United States State Department, which read in part, “We can confirm Costa Rican authorities identified the remains of a United States citizen in Costa Rica. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family (of William Sean Creighton) on their loss. We are closely monitoring authorities’ investigations into the cause of death.”
Creighton, 43 years old at time of death, originally from West Virginia, founded 5 Dimes in Costa Rica in 1999. The company had recently been investigated by the US Government for money laundering, after it was discovered that they had devised an ingenious way to process bets using gift cards as collateral to place and cash out bets. No charges were ever brought against Creighton nor his company.
Creighton was abducted on September 24, 2018, at 10PM, as he was leaving work, with no bodyguard, driving a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. It was reported he was taken by four men, later taken by taxi to another location as a kidnapping.
Creighton’s Costa Rican wife allegedly received a phone call later on the 24th, asking for ransom money of $750,000 in bitcoin, to be sent to a Cuban bank. Some sources report that the actual sum was one million dollars in virtual currency, but those dollar amounts have not been confirmed as of today.
Ten Costa Rican citizens have been arrested and charged with Creighton’s kidnap and murder. Nine were arrested in Costa Rica, and the alleged mastermind was found and arrested in Spain, with the help of Spanish authorities. The final destination of the ransom money has been reported variously as being in Cuba, Spain, or here in Costa Rica. Those details have not been made available to the press. Creighton himself had become a naturalized Costa Rican citizen, and reportedly loved Costa Rica and its people dearly. His remains were found 3 hours away from the scene of his abduction.
It is sad that he met his demise in the country he so loved
