Department of justice full tilt poker refund

So what happened to the cash? The Department of Justice alleges that, in classic Ponzi scheme form, Full Tilt Poker relied on new customerВ payments to outpace customer redemptions, paying old customers withВ funds recently received from new customersВ while Full Tilt's board of directorsВ and equity holders pocketed a fortune for themselves. According to the amended complaint, on March 31 Full Tilt owed its customers $390 million, yet the company held just $60 million in itsВ bank accounts.

While Full Tilt had assured players for yearsВ that 'all player account funds are segregated and held separately from our operating accounts', theВ Feds found thatВ the books simply did not add up.

Attorney Preet Bharara amended the Department of Justice's charges against Full Tilt, claiming that 'Full Tilt Poker and its board of directors operated theВ company as a massive Ponzi scheme againstВ its own players'. On August 30th Full Tilt offered an explanation, claiming that the seizure of $115 million by the United States government and the theft of $42 million by a payment processor had rendered the company insolvent.В In that press release Full Tilt stressedВ the company's intentionВ to fulfill all financial obligations to its customers,В announcing that 'Full Tilt Poker has been actively exploring opportunities with outside investors in order to stabilize the company and pay back our players'. Its site shut down and many of its bank accounts frozen,В Full Tilt laterВ acknowledged that it could no longer redeem player accounts and that the amount ofВ money owed to the site's formerВ players was far greater than the cash leftВ in Full Tilt's reserves. customers through online fronts that appeared to sell everything fromВ flowers to pet supplies. TheВ prosecutionВ alleges that Full TiltВ knowingly worked with third party payment processors to deceive American financial institutions, going so far as to launder illegal gambling funds from U.S. On April 15th Forbes' Nathan VardiВ reported thatВ Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, hadВ filed an indictment charging Raymond Bitar, founder of Full Tilt Poker,В with operating an illegal gambling business.В 'Black Friday', asВ the day is knownВ within the poker community,В resulted in the seizure of the domain name by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the issuance of a restraining orderВ against bank accounts associated with Full Tilt and other online gambling portals named in the indictment. This is largely due to the fact that the deal itselfВ isВ dependent on the partiesВ reaching a 'favorable resolution' with the United StatesВ Department ofВ Justice. Despite this wealth of experience,В itВ is clearВ resurrecting cash-strappedВ Full Tilt willВ prove to be aВ unique challenge for the firm. Groupe Bernard Tapie announced today that the firm has inked an exclusive deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker and all of the embattled online gambling outfit's assets.В FormerВ Full Tilt players will be happy to learn that theВ agreement includes the repayment of allВ Full Tilt Poker customers owed money by the company.В Tapie, aВ French buyout concern,В claims a particular expertise in the 'salvation of financially distressed businesses', citing overВ 40 companiesВ that it has successfullyВ returned to profitability.

Department of justice full tilt poker refund