The woman accused of arranging the 2005 murder of former CWC Gaming CEO Adam Anhang has been arrested in Spain. Authorities in Madrid detained Aurea Vazquez Rijos on Sunday after she stepped off a plane from Italy, where she had sought refuge five years ago after being indicted by a grand jury for offering a man money to kill Anhang.
The Winnipeg-born 32-year-old Anhang founded Costa Rica-based online live dealer casino specialist CWC (Casino Web Cam) Gaming in 2003. Anhang had also served as CFO for Dr. Ho Casino, the online site launched by legendary Macau casino figure Stanley Ho, and held significant real estate investments in Puerto Rico.
Vazquez, a native of Puerto Rico, had married Anhang six months prior to his murder, but Anhang had already filed for divorce by September 23, 2005, the date he was killed. The couple had met up at a San Juan restaurant that night to discuss terms of a financial settlement. Upon leaving the restaurant, Anhang was stabbed multiple times and died at the scene. A restaurant employee was originally charged with Anhang’s murder, but those charges were eventually dropped and new charges filed against Alex Pabón Colón in 2008. Colón pled guilty, claiming Vazquez had offered him $3m to do the deed and had lured Anhang to the restaurant that night specifically so that Colón could kill him.
Vazquez, who had refused to cooperate with police and had sued Anhang’s parents for millions of dollars from Anhang’s estate, subsequently fled to Italy, where authorities refuse to extradite anyone facing a potential death sentence (although Puerto Rico doesn’t execute criminals). The Federal Bureau of Investigation says the extradition process from Spain could take between six and nine months.
