Full Tilt Poker Makes Its Case For Why It Has Been Unable To Pay Its Players (FORBES)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanva...-back-players/

were indicted by the U.S. government in April, on Tuesday released its most detailed explanation for why it has been unable to pay back poker players who bet on its site.

In a one-page statement, Full Tilt blamed the April indictment coupled with U.S. government cash seizures over many years and a massive theft perpetrated by one of its payment processors for overwhelming Full Tilt’s ability to smoothly manage its financial affairs.

“As is obvious from the events that have transpired since April 15th, Full Tilt Poker was not prepared for the far-reaching, US government enforcement effort of Black Friday,” Full Tilt said in a statement. “Full Tilt Poker never anticipated that the DOJ would proceed as it did by seizing our global domain name and shutting down the site worldwide.”

Full Tilt Poker did reach an agreement in April with the Justice Department that was supposed to help facilitate the return of funds to players who had large cash balances with the company, but Full Tilt’s inability to pay money back has infuriated its players and the poker world at large. In its statement Full Tilt said that U.S. Justice Department actions over the last few years against online poker payment processors resulted in the U.S. government seizing $115 million of player funds located in U.S. banks. In addition, the company claims it was the victim of a massive heist in which one of its key payment processors stole $42 million from the company. “Until April 15th, Full Tilt Poker had always covered these losses so that no player was ever affected,” the company said, adding that it experienced “unprecedented issues with some of its third-party processors that greatly contributed to its financial problems.”

For years the Department of Justice took the position that online poker violated U.S. law while online poker firms like Full Tilt that built massive online businesses claimed online poker was not prohibited by anything that was on the books. In April the cat-and-mouse game that had been going on came to a head when federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted founders of Full Tilt and its biggest rival, PokerStars, while launching a $3 billion civil lawsuit against the companies and shutting down their U.S. facing web sites.

The Justice Department’s recent actions against the online poker industry have indeed caused big problems for Full Tilt, a company that was clearly taking big risks. According to the plea agreement entered into with the U.S. government by one payment processor, Bradley Franzen, Full Tilt was dealing with a $60 million shortfall earlier in 2011 that was created by crediting player accounts despite not being able to debit funds from customers through financial transactions. In late June the Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended Full Tilt’s main egambling licenses because of issues that arose as part of a special investigation.

Since the indictment Full Tilt has been trying to find investors who could put some cash into a business that desperately needed some. Full Tilt now says that six investment groups, including hedge funds and operators of other Internet firms, have visited Full Tilt’s Dublin headquarters and that the company has hired an unnamed financial advisor to “assist us in our search for an infusion of cash as well as a new management team to restore the site and repay players.”

more mostly nothing.......

LOL at the image of Lederer they chose to go with the article...

“Full Tilt Poker never anticipated that the DOJ would proceed as it did by seizing our global domain name and shutting down the site worldwide.”
But........ I was playing on FT for weeks after black Friday.
does that mean I can get my few measly $ back?

Hmm, what to say about this ???
Still the only option we all have is just wait and see what will happen during the next weeks.

I can't see why anyone would wanna invest in this company. They lost such a huge chunk of their business in the US market. There's no signs of that coming back in the near future. So they're basically asking someone to step in and pay them for their incompetence. Also on 2p2 the lawyer for FTP said that 6 potential investors was now down to 3.

Hypothesis here, no facts involved.

Suppose no one steps forward to acquire FT and they declare bankruptcy. At which point the DOJ will be in control of most of the funds FT had.

Who do you think will get any money first, American players, or Foreign players?

Personally, I think no one will ever see any funds precisely because the US Gov, via the DoJ, has control of those assets, and control of the process that will determine what happens with those assets, and will take it all as a fine due the US Gov, for whatever trumped up bullshit it wants to invent. If bankruptcy, the DoJ will offer American Players the opportunity to apply for their funds....Just send them your Taxpayer ID, and they will start the process.

Foreign players should probably be looking into a lawsuit, based on treaties and economic conventions and a lot of stuff I have no clue about. Inside pressure will not move fast enuf to resolve anything. Outside pressure might.

I could be wrong here but, didn't PAD cut FT just before all this took place?


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More blaming others... tiresome excuses... and lack of culpability and contrition for not having segregated player accounts... no solutions either.

That'd be because the US market isn't everything - Stars, Party and others have proven that there's still tons of money to be made in the rest of the world. Overheads are much, much lower in the rest of the world too, since they won't be having millions of dollars a month seized from payment processors by the US authorities.

Obviously their situation is ugly, but don't go thinking that they won't be able to make money in the future just because they're locked out of the US market.

I haven't seen any recent episodes, but Poker After Dark was fully being fully paid for by Full Tilt so I don't see how they could "cut" Full Tilt. Personally, I'm surprised it's still airing though if the money was already spent I guess they may as well show them.

News bulletin: Full Tilt still sucks and is full of crap.

I know that things are looking rather bleak right now, but there is a legal question whether the DOJ had a right to seize full tilt's domain name & assets.
It ain't over 'til it's over.

According to a podcast I just listened to, they have three things up for sale...

1. Prolly their biggest asset, is their software. This is a universally known, and extremely stable, glitch free client, and it's got Ferguson's name on it.

2. Their client mail list. Another excellent offering for obvious reasons.

3. The name "Full Tilt." On one point it's worthless. On the other point it is an established brand, and under new management it may be a worthy purchase.

Until these assets are sold, nobody gets anything, as there's nothing to give.


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I've said it before and I'll say it again: the fact that people continued to play on Ultimate Bet for years after the cheating scandal proves that there is plenty of value left in the Full Tilt brand name. All you need to do is slap an "under new management" sticker on it.

This is.......interesting? I guess? Not much but legal mumbo jumbo here with now the (minuscule) slight chance some of us get our money back in about 2-4 years if someone decides to invest in FT

xx22