The Lederer Files

[jetset]

This is really interesting stuff....

AN INSIDER VIEW OF THE FULL TILT STORY

The first episode of The Lederer Files is now up at:

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AN INSIDER VIEW OF THE FULL TILT POKER DEBACLE

An extended on-camera interview with Howard "The Professor" Lederer

Veteran professional poker player Howard "The Professor" Lederer has been much in the news lately as one of the key figures in the complicated series of criminal and civil cases that have grown out of the Full Tilt Poker debacle.

As an allegedly major founder shareholder who reportedly reaped tens of millions of dollars from his Full Tilt Poker interests, Lederer is widely viewed as a key insider in possession of important information on the decline and fall of what was once the world's second biggest internet poker provider.

Certainly he appears to have been one of those targeted by the US Department of Justice in its quest to seize what it appears to regard as ill-gotten gains, and he has featured in several of the Department's judicial actions.

The public will have an opportunity to hear the Lederer perspective from the man himself following an announcement by Poker News that it has secured an exclusive seven-hour on-camera interview with the poker ace, conducted by respected PN exec and writer Matthew Parvis.

Under the title "The Lederer Files", Poker News will be presenting the September 8 interview in a series of videos in which, the publication claims, Lederer "...breaks his silence on the events leading up to and surrounding Full Tilt Poker and Black Friday."

Among the subjects discussed are payment processing, segregation of player and operating accounts, Ray Bitar, Phil Ivey, player loans, Black Friday, and the eventual forfeiture of Full Tilt Poker assets to PokerStars.

Because the interview was conducted on September 8, it does not embrace the latest "amended complaint" moves by Lederer and the Department of Justice.

The interview will be released in six or possibly even seven 30-minute video segments.

 

[jetset]

PART TWO OF 'THE LEDERER FILES' NOW UP (Update)

Former Full Tilt director talks about accounts segregation, processors and legal advice

The second episode of the Poker News interview series with Howard Lederer is now available to registered users at:

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Whilst Lederer continues to profess ignorance on the nitty gritty of Full Tilt financial and management issues, he does give interesting insights into how the company developed and grew, perhaps too fast for its own good, under the leadership of Ray Bitar but with the oversight of original investors that included Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey and other big-name poker aces on the board of directors.

His interview has revealed details of how the company started; the sometimes clashing personalities involved and the relationship of the board of directors to the operational management in various issues that confronted the company, originally a small Californian LLC start-up which burgeoned into a major Irish company and the second largest online poker provider in the industry.

Lederer has on several occasions made the point that a two thirds majority of the board of directors could have changed the operational management, but a truly serious challenge to CEO Ray Bitar's authority never seemed to emerge.

In the second episode of the series, Lederer discusses Full Tilt Poker's decision to remain in the U.S. post-UIGEA and the payment processing issues that flowed from that decision, which was made only after legal advice was obtained from top US legal firms.

One important element that has to be remembered in the unfolding events is the prevailing environment and the attitudes of experts, the public and the industry back then. These have since been significantly influenced by the actions of the DoJ, initially against processors and then operators, culminating in the Black Friday shutdowns.

The industry is very different now to what it was several years ago, and it is easy to forget that with the benefit of hindsight.

The highly contentious issue of segregated accounts is discussed at some length in the second episode, with Lederer recounting how he brought a player's enquiry on this to the attention of the financial management of the company.

Lederer's central concern at all times appears to be that the company should have more cash available than was necessary to cover its player liabilities, but the mechanics of trusts and segregated accounts was an operational issue in which he was not directly involved.

The involvement of Intabill and alleged DoJ collaborator Daniel Tzvetkoff also crops up in the discussion.

Lederer discusses his decision to step down from his management role with the company, a choice he claims he made in late 2007. Lederer remained on the board of directors, and recommended that a search for a seasoned and experienced COO be made for his replacement.