Tag: full tilt poker

Last Updated on October 6, 2011

After the Groupe Bernard Tapie signed an exclusive agreement to make a final purchase of Full Tilt Poker and all of its assets, it seems that the group has decided to make a few big potential moves down the road.  While one of their biggest situations that they will have to face is paying back their players; the French investment group is debating offering an equity stake to players on the site.

This equity stake would not be offered to everyone, but it would mainly be offered to players who are owed the most money out of the incredible $300 million that is owed world wide.  While around half of that money is owed to players in the United States; the group would offer the high stakes players a chance to have a stake in the company, rather than paying them back their money directly.

While this is an interesting situation, it may be one that might not even see the light of day.  The reason for this is that the purchase of Full Tilt Poker won’t move forward at all unless everything is settled with the United States Department of Justice before hand.  The Tapie Groupe themselves have stated that they will not be finalizing the purchase unless  the situation with the DOJ is handled.

Another interesting situation that is ongoing with the group, is that they are also hoping to get financial support from both the Department of Justice, as well as other investors.  This means that they plan to have others (specifically the DOJ with the money that they are holding), pay back a percentage of the $300 million that is owed to players around the world.

It seems that there are still many things that need to be sorted out before the purchase is finalized.  One other thing that is fairly recent to the Full Tilt Poker news, is the fact that the Alderney Gambling Control Commission has actually revoked Full Tilt Poker’s gaming license around a week ago.  This means that the AGCC can no longer do anything for players about the money that is owed to them, and that they have to go directly through Full Tilt or the police.

Last Updated on September 29, 2011

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended the licences of Full Tilt Poker earlier today by issuing the following announcement. As mentioned in the release, this does not prevent future ownersship from applying for a new license.

AGCC Commissioners, sitting as a tribunal, have today revoked the licences of Vantage Limited, Filco Limited and Oxalic Limited, trading as Full Tilt Poker (FTP), with immediate effect. This follows the earlier suspension of the licences on 29th June 2011.

At a hearing held in London over six days, it emerged that FTP had fundamentally misled AGCC about their operational integrity by continuously reporting as liquid funds balances that had been covertly seized or restrained by US authorities, or that were otherwise not actually available to the operator. Serious breaches of AGCC regulations include false reporting, unauthorised provision of credit, and failure to report material events.

At the commencement of these proceedings on 26th July AGCC made clear its preference to hold the hearing in public, to the benefit of players and media alike. However, the tribunal was persuaded that the hearing should be held in camera on the basis of claims by FTP that this would maximise the chance of a commercial rescue of the business for the benefit of players. For this reason an adjournment of 54 days was allowed.

It is important to note that the revocation of FTP’s licences does not, as has been suggested, prevent a reactivation of the business under new ownership and management. Unresolved claims by players against FTP become a matter for the police and civil authorities. Now that FTP’s licences have been revoked, AGCC no longer has jurisdiction over these companies.

The licence of Orinic Limited, a recently added geographic sub-division of the FTP poker room, remains suspended.

The determination notice containing the decision of the Commissioners and reasons for it is available at http://www.gamblingcontrol.org/userfiles/file/Determination%20Notice%20290911.pdf

Last Updated on September 20, 2011

Earlier today Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara claimed that Full Tilt Poker and its board of directors operated the company “as a massive Ponzi scheme against its own players.”

Federal prosecutors working on behalf of the United States Department of Justice are filling papers as part of a civil money laundering complaint that alleges that the poker site improperly used player funds to pay it board of directors and online poker players Howard Lederer, Rafael “Rafe” Furst and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson over $440 million.

Prosecutors have amended the complaint that names Bitar, Lederer, Ferguson and Furst, adding them to the original complaint which was filed on April 15, 2011. The proposed amended complaint claims that in 2008 and 2009 Full Tilt sent emails to its players, assuring players that “unlike some companies in our industry, we completely understand and accept that your account money belongs to you, not Full Tilt Poker.” The new complaint says that Full Tilt Poker did not have enough funds to repay players at the time and that on March 31, 2011, Full Tilt Poker only had roughly $60 million in its banks accounts while owing $390 million to players around the world, including $150 million in the U.S. alone. In other words, Full Tilt Poker was nearly broke before Black Friday.

In today’s statement, Mr. Bharara said Full Tilt Poker “cheated and abused its own players to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars” and that “insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited with the company.”