Subject:Poker: DOJ’s Civil Complaint Amended, Alleges FTP Stole Player Funds

[jetset]

FULL TILT POKER BACK BY JANUARY 2012?

French buyer believes it may be possible

Hard on the heels of the announcement that France's Groupe Bernard Tapie has conditionally agreed to buy Full Tilt Poker, Laurent Tapie, md of the company and son of the owner, was interviewed by the publication iGaming France Friday.

Although he generally adhered to the formal public statement announcing the deal, Tapie did reveal that he hoped to have FTP up and running again - presumably under new management - by January 2012.

Tapie jnr emphasised in the interview that his company had the skills and financial clout to turn the troubled online poker operator around, noting that it would not have become involved if it did not strongly believe in FTP’s future potential.

He reiterated that Groupe Bernard Tapie had demonstrated that it had the necessary funds to repay FTP's debt, and meet its obligations in terms of monies owed to players. He additionally revealed that his company intends to keep the Full Tilt Poker brand alive after the recent tarnishing has been addressed.

“The brand is not in question, it’s a well-known brand and the technology is widely recognised as being possibly the best in the industry,” Tapie told iGaming France. "The management of the company is being questioned and it will be changed should the takeover be concluded.

"I believe we have the tools necessary to once again make the site one of the leaders in the online poker sector.”

Tapie appeared to be under no illusions regarding the tough path ahead, referring to the negotiations that will be required with the US Department of Justice, which has seized hundreds of millions of Full Tilt dollars in the process of taking the company down this year. However, he appeared to be optimistic and motivated to make Full Tilt Poker work again.

"We want to find ways where we don’t have to put in all the money, and will be talking to the US Department of Justice next week," he revealed.

What Tapie did not disclose is the consideration his company will have to pay for Full Tilt, which when added to the company's debts and other obligations is likely to be very substantial.

As previously reported in InfoPowa bulletins, Groupe Bernard Tapie has impressive experience in taking over, and turning around, troubled businesses.

In related news, there are reports that the current CEO of Full Tilt Poker, Ray Bitar, has added to the blizzard of legal paperwork swirling around his company with an application to fight the Department of Justice's seizure warrants on various bank accounts with which he is associated (see previous InfoPowa reports).

The application is apparently being made under the Federal Rules for Civil Procedure; Admiralty and Maritime Claims, which covers procedures related to "commercial activities that are land based or occur wholly on land, that are maritime in character."

The thrust of Bitar's application appears to be that "the assets subject to forfeiture are neither proceeds nor instrumentalities of any crimes in any jurisdiction in the United States or elsewhere" and that he should be permitted to challenge the forfeiture and the DoJ allegations surrounding it.

EDIT: Oops - typo in title - could one of the mods please change that to 2012?

[SlotsLover]

Besides the 330M that the DOJ claims they have frozen, the gov't has (the IRS) all the money paid in taxes by the principals in the case (and other owners--I can't believe they didn't pay tax as this would have been one of the few ways they could get in trouble if they were not shut down).

Add these funds together and US gov't can make all the players (not just US) whole. Let's call on the US Gov't to do the right thing for the players.

Speaking of doing the right thing with frozen money, does anyone know what has happened to the Ewallet money? I have a few k over there that has been gone for almost a year. Thanks DOJ!

[silcnlayc]

Indicted Banker and Payment Processor Fight Federal Crackdown On Online Poker With Powerful Legal Papers

Interesting article in Forbes....The Poker Players Alliance sent me there...(they get credit for the find)



A payment processor and a banker, who were indicted by federal prosecutors in April as part of a sweeping crackdown on the online poker industry in the U.S., have filed strongly-worded legal papers to fight the government’s charges, arguing online poker businesses like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were not gambling businesses. continued.....



http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanva...-legal-papers/

.

[spiderlegz]

According to Subject:Poker Groupe Bernand Tapie and DOJ have come to an agreement.
The "only" thing needed for the sale to go trough is FTPs shareholders agreement.

Full article:http://www.subjectpoker.com/2011/11/...-gbt-doj-deal/

The DoJ will reimburse US players and settle the civil litigation against FTP while GBT will take care of the ROW players. Edit: this is still quite unclear especially the DoJ part

One time!

[jetset]

GROUPE BERNARD TAPIE CONFIRMS FULL TILT DEAL WITH DOJ (Update)

Good news at last for Full Tilt players

Following wide-spread reportage this week on an e-mail from Full Tilt’s Ray Bitar addressed to Tiltware shareholders (see previous report), Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) has confirmed that it has reached an agreement in principle with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that will lead to the reimbursement of Full Tilt Poker players and clear the way for the group to finalise the acquisition of Full Tilt.

In an interview with iGaming France today (Wednesday), Laurent Tapie revealed that a final agreement between the company and the US Department of Justice will be drafted by this week's end and should be signed in the next 15 days.

Under the proposed terms of the deal, Groupe Bernard Tapie has undertaken to reimburse all non-U.S. Full Tilt customers while U.S. customers will be reimbursed by the DOJ.

Tapie declined to offer further details on the mechanism the group has developed in arranging reimbursements or the amounts involved in paying back players but ended the interview by confirming: "The payment terms are defined. We will draft an agreement by the end of the week and should sign it within the next 15 days, and we will issue a statement shortly after that will provide more information."

[Mousey]

U.S. customers will be reimbursed by the DOJ

??? Will this not set some sort of legal precedent? I mean... why doesn't the DOJ pay back ALL players' funds they've seized? bunch of crooks...

Oh, and here's hoping all this holds together and FT players finally get their funds.

[pokeraddict]

??? Will this not set some sort of legal precedent? I mean... why doesn't the DOJ pay back ALL players' funds they've seized? bunch of crooks...

Oh, and here's hoping all this holds together and FT players finally get their funds.

The Groupe will also be paying the DOJ a "fee" which was undisclosed. I have a feeling that "fee" (bribe, fine w/e) is a good portion of that payback.

[SlotsLover]

not to derail the thread, but if DOJ is paying back for Full Tilt, what about the money from EXW and QT? Anyone hear anything about that?

I also find that DoJ is responsible for paying US FTP players a bit odd and we believe it when I see it.

[jetset]

GROUPE BERNARD TAPIE OPTIMISTIC ON FULL TILT POKER SETTLEMENT (Update)

Company lawyer says current agreement will resolve all outstanding issues

Behnam Dayanim, a lawyer who represents French businessman Laurent Tapie of the investment group, Groupe Bernard Tapie, told the Wall Street Journal Thursday that his client and the US Department of Justice were close to settling a civil case filed by the Justice Department, clearing the way for the French group to take over Full Tilt Poker.

The report confirms an interview with iGaming France earlier this week in which a GBT spokesman confirmed that negotiations were going well.

Dayanim told the WSJ: "We have an oral agreement that is in the process of being reduced to writing, and expect to resolve all outstanding issues."

The Department of Justice declined to comment, whilst Barry Boss, an attorney for Full Tilt, said, "We have made significant progress towards a settlement but there are still issues to be resolved."

The Justice Department's $3 billion civil suit, a billion of which is targeted on Full Tilt and associated companies, is a major impediment to GBT's acquisition of Full Tilt Poker, an event that could see players being paid and the once-great online poker site resuming business outside the United States.

Full Tilt was disastrously impacted by DoJ actions against e-cash processors and the unsealing of indictments naming its executives, along with those of Pokerstars and Absolute Poker back in April this year.

While PokerStars paid its players despite the debacle, Full Tilt at the time of the crackdown was cash-strapped and unable to pay back the $150 million it held in accounts of its U.S. players. Two months later its licence was pulled by the Alderney jurisdiction, leaving FTP poker players world-wide unable to access their money, which the government says amounts to some $300 million.

The US government's latest amendment to the massive civil suit it has launched against Full Tilt claims that the owners violated the trust of players and defrauded them while taking $444 million in payments for themselves.

Attorneys for the company and the owners have denied it constituted a "Ponzi scheme," as a U.S. attorney accused, although there has been an acknowledgement that the company may have been "mismanaged."

Insiders in the negotiations have apparently confirmed to the Journal that the present agreement is that GBT will pay an amount of money to the Justice Department to resolve the civil dispute, and then pay those players based outside of the U.S. The quantum of such a settlement has not been disclosed yet.

"If the current plans are approved by both parties, U.S. players seeking their funds would likely have to file claims to the Justice Department. The company has said Justice seized players' funds of $115 million from third-party payment processors affiliated with Full Tilt," the Wall Street Journal reports.

And of course Full Tilt shareholders would have to approve the sale of the company and the DoJ deal.

The WSJ observes that the fates of the individuals named in the DoJ criminal indictment is a separate issue in which the outcome remains uncertain.

[vinylweatherman]

??? Will this not set some sort of legal precedent? I mean... why doesn't the DOJ pay back ALL players' funds they've seized? bunch of crooks...

Oh, and here's hoping all this holds together and FT players finally get their funds.

I am sure US players hope so.

This seems to go against the responces received in the recent past when some players contacted the DoJ over lost funds due to other seizures, with one more or less being told "consider yourselves lucky - we could have gone after you, your house, your car.........".

The difference here seems to be that the new investors engaged with the DoJ in order to reach a settlement, whereas QT simply killed off it's US facing subsidiary, and refused to reimburse players who's money had been seized, and would only pay out the rest to an offshore Euro denominated bank account outside of the DoJ's reach. Since QT have refused to negotiate a settlement, the DoJ isn't going to budge on the issue of refunding money to accountholders that it seized.

EWX has been even more secretive, although there is a rumour that secret negotiations are taking place that could result in players seeing their money, however recent uses of the EWX domain bring this into question, and tend to support the "they did a runner" theory.

It hasn't happened yet, so until it does, no legal precedent can be set.

Once done, pressure can be applied for the return of other seized monies that can be shown to belong to players, rather than the operators. This could put the DoJ in a difficult position, as it has been giving away part of this seized cash.