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

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. :)
 
??? 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.
 
EwalletXpress and QT too?

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.
 
Update

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.
 
??? 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.
 
The deal is done....hopefully

GROUPE BERNARD TAPIE DEAL WITH U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ON FULL TILT POKER?

Embargoed press releases and deleted website entries create confusion late Thursday

The latest episode in the Full Tilt Poker saga had media reporters on the hop late Thursday afternoon in the United States as news broke that the prospective buyers of the embattled online poker provider, Groupe Bernard Tapie, had reached agreement on the sale with the US Department of Justice.

The news, issued on an embargoed release, was published prematurely by CNN and Yahoo Finance, among others, but was subsequently taken down due to the embargo.

Compounding the confusion, a suspicious press release apparently published Wednesday surfaced which said the deal was off.

The Wall Street Journal finally nailed the story down late Thursday, reporting that GBT's legal representative had confirmed that the French investor had reached an agreement with the Department of Justice that could lead to the acquisition of Full Tilt Poker for $80 million, giving GBT an opportunity to sort out the mess and operate Full Tilt's non-US business.

The WSJ explained that the agreement with the DoJ could free up seized funds for payment to non-US players, whilst US players would apply to the DoJ to recover their (seized) winnings and credit balances.

This information is consistent with "leaked" information that appeared in various online poker publications in recent weeks, quoting various lawyers acting for the parties involved in the GBT-Full Tilt-Department of Justice talks.

According to the Yahoo Finance report, the United States Department of Justice brokered a deal in which FTP will forfeit its assets to the U.S. government, which will then sell those assets to Groupe Bernard Tapie.

GBT will be responsible for paying out non-US players, and the Department of Justice will pay - on application - US players; an amount that has been estimated at $150 million.

It appears that the deal includes an agreement by the DoJ to dismiss the civil forfeiture proceedings against FTP, although it will not reverse the individual criminal proceedings against individuals named in the Black Friday indictments like Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar (see previous InfoPowa reports).

Early reports indicated that the agreement was also conditional on a ban on current FTP directors holding shares in the company once it has been acquired by GBT.

The deal will have to be approved by Full Tilt Poker shareholders, according to Benham Dayanim, a legal representative for Groupe Bernard Tapie.

One of the most voluble lawyers in the FTP affair, Jeff Ifrah, reportedly told Poker News:

"All [the embargo] means is that the reporter was not supposed to release it like she did, that’s the embargo, but the agreement itself is signed.

“You have to understand what it is, this is an agreement between Tapie and the government that, if the government obtains the assets of FTP, Tapie will buy them, and Tapie will pay back the world players, and the government will establish a fund to pay back the U.S. players.

"There is a signed agreement between the government and Tapie that dictates what the terms will be for the sale of the assets, but the government doesn’t have the assets yet, so they still need to obtain them . . . It’s not clear what has to happen for the government to obtain those assets."

Full Tilt Poker's chief exec, Ray Bitar, later appeared to confirm the deal in a statement to the information website PokerStrategy, which said: “I am extremely pleased with the efforts of the Department of Justice, and the Groupe Bernard Tapie corporation, and appreciate their continued dedication in working towards a mutually beneficial agreement that will facilitate repayment of the players."

Contacted by Poker News, the DoJ declined to comment.
 
Didn't the DoJ seize all the "assets":confused:

FTP folded because after the seizure, they had no assets with which to carry on operating even the non-US part of the business. The only remaining asset therefore is the brand itself, which the company needs to sign over to the DoJ, who will then sell it to the new owners.

This does at least mean that those responsible for the mess (other than the DoJ of course:rolleyes:) will not be lining their own pockets with the proceeds from the sale, and will be banned from any involvement in the new company.

This also comes pretty close to an admission on the DoJ's part that they seized PLAYERS' funds, rather than "company assets".

If players can openly apply for the return of FTP funds through the DoJ, then surely they can use the same procedure to openly apply for QT and EWX funds that the DoJ also hold.
 
Didn't the DoJ seize all the "assets":confused:

FTP folded because after the seizure, they had no assets with which to carry on operating even the non-US part of the business. The only remaining asset therefore is the brand itself, which the company needs to sign over to the DoJ, who will then sell it to the new owners.

This does at least mean that those responsible for the mess (other than the DoJ of course:rolleyes:) will not be lining their own pockets with the proceeds from the sale, and will be banned from any involvement in the new company.

This also comes pretty close to an admission on the DoJ's part that they seized PLAYERS' funds, rather than "company assets".

If players can openly apply for the return of FTP funds through the DoJ, then surely they can use the same procedure to openly apply for QT and EWX funds that the DoJ also hold.

GBT will be responsible for paying out non-US players, and the Department of Justice will pay - on application - US players; an amount that has been estimated at $150 million.

That is precisely what I was thinking Vinyl... this is truly going to be 'interesting'.... Anyone familiar with the term 'goat rope'? ....

:eat:
 

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