The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) filed in a lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker/UB on charges of bank fraud, money laundering and organising illegal gambling on 15 April, 2011. The official press release named 11 people as defendants: Isai Scheinberg, Raymond Bitar, Scott Tom, Brent Beckley, Nelson Burtnick, Paul Tate, Ryan Lang, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin, Chad Elie and John Campos.
On 29 June, 2011 the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), licenser of Full Tilt Poker suspended the licence of the site that had to immediately shut down its operations. AGCC referred to the indictment that brought about Black Friday, arguing that the site operated violating the AGCC regulations. The final reason of the suspension was the room’s inability to pay its players.
On 20 September, 2011 the DoJ published details of the Black Friday, including the Full Tilt Poker case. Evidence showed that the leaders of the site had simply stolen players’ money deposited to the room. The DoJ charged four persons above all of the theft: Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst.
In addition to operating illegally on US soil, the charges against FTP were further amended with scamming its players by claiming that their money was safe and separated from the operational funds. In fact, FTP leaders withdrew hundreds of millions of dollars illegally from players’ funds.
In the filed suit it is claimed that the room owed its players $390,695,788 as of March, 2011, while having only $59,579,413 available on its accounts. Bitar, Lederer, Ferguson and Furst transferred a total of $443,860,529 to themselves and other shareholders of the site between April, 2007 and April, 2011. Bitar received $40,954,781, Lederer received $41,856,010, Ferguson got $25 million and Furst saw $11,706,323. The total amount the company owed at this point was around $300 million.
Full Tilt Poker’s inability to pay its players becoming apparent, the authorities began to try to find investors for the room to cover all or part of the players’ losses. On 24 April, 2012, this part of the case was sufficiently closed: PokerStars agreed with the DoJ on the acquisition of Full Tilt Poker and took it upon itself to compensate players.
What happened to the FTP ex-leaders?
Ray Bitar
While players’ losses were covered by PokerStars, the lawsuits against the ex-leaders of Full Tilt Poker were not dropped. Bitar, who is the only one among the four main defendants who also has to face criminal charges, was heard by the court on 3 July, 2012. He was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the John F. Kennedy Airport where he arrived from Dublin with the aim to surrender himself to the authorities. While having had arranged that he would surrender himself as soon as he landed in New York, he was eventually arrested as new charges were added to the complaint.
The ex-FTP director was heard in the afternoon of the same day where he pleaded not guilty of the charges in front of Judge Debra Freeman. The new charges concerned the operations of the room after Black Friday: the FBI claimed that, despite the financial deficit of the site, Bitar continued to promote new deposits from non-US players and gave guarantees of the security of their money. At this point, however, FTP was entirely dependent on the new deposits to cover former withdrawals and operational costs.
According to the financial reports, handed in as appendices of the suit, FTP had only $2.1 million to its name in June, 2011, two months after its closure in the US market, while it had pending withdrawals of a total of $29.1 million, including $12.5 million owed to players. Considering that a total of $8 to $9 million worth of new deposits were made weekly at this time, these figures are all the more scary.
The prosecution asked for a denial of bail, calling attention to an improved flight risk on Bitar’s part, taking the new charges and a more serious expected sentence into consideration. The court finally let go of Bitar on a $2.4 million bail. The ex-leader was immediately placed under house arrest and has been being monitored with an electric tracer ever since. His case is still being investigated.
Rafe Furst
Charged with the theft of $11 million, Rafe Furst was the first to strike a deal with the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. While details of the agreement of 27 November, 2012 are scarcely known, all charges against Furst were dropped while the Attorney’s Office confiscated his bank account in Switzerland with an unknown balance. In addition, Furst paid $150,000 to the Office, which is planned to be used in the compensation of US players.
Howard Lederer
Lederer, who has $42 million to pay back, made an agreement on 18 December, 2012 with the Attorney’s Office. According to the pieces of information that have surfaced, the Office confiscated the following items from Lederer:
Lederer paid out an additional $1.25 million and agreed not to be involved in any way in any online gambling enterprise operation in the United States. The Office had previously wanted to forfeit Lederer’s home on Hawk Ridge Drive, Las Vegas as well, in addition to a property at Skybird Court, a property in California, several automobiles and three Wells Fargo accounts, while these were eventually left in his possession.
In spite of the seemingly huge amount forfeited from Lederer, the total sum falls way short of what he stole from FTP parent company Tiltware LLC’s account, according to the DoJ file suit.
Apparently, Mr and Mrs Lederer threw a party for 150 to celebrate the agreement on the night of its signing in a luxurious manor they own.
Chris Ferguson
On 21 February, 2013, Chris Ferguson also agreed with the US Attorney’s Office. Charged with a $25 million theft, Ferguson has to give up his previously confiscated bank account at Citibank with an unknown balance. Moreover, Ferguson pays $2.35 million and also accepts not to take part in any online gambling enterprise operating in the US.
Despite the agreements, none of the defendants have pleaded guilty, neither have Bitar. The prosecution had originally demanded $45.5 million from Lederer, $42 million form Ferguson, $40.8 million from Bitar and $11.7 million from Furst.
On 29 June, 2011 the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), licenser of Full Tilt Poker suspended the licence of the site that had to immediately shut down its operations. AGCC referred to the indictment that brought about Black Friday, arguing that the site operated violating the AGCC regulations. The final reason of the suspension was the room’s inability to pay its players.
On 20 September, 2011 the DoJ published details of the Black Friday, including the Full Tilt Poker case. Evidence showed that the leaders of the site had simply stolen players’ money deposited to the room. The DoJ charged four persons above all of the theft: Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst.
In addition to operating illegally on US soil, the charges against FTP were further amended with scamming its players by claiming that their money was safe and separated from the operational funds. In fact, FTP leaders withdrew hundreds of millions of dollars illegally from players’ funds.
In the filed suit it is claimed that the room owed its players $390,695,788 as of March, 2011, while having only $59,579,413 available on its accounts. Bitar, Lederer, Ferguson and Furst transferred a total of $443,860,529 to themselves and other shareholders of the site between April, 2007 and April, 2011. Bitar received $40,954,781, Lederer received $41,856,010, Ferguson got $25 million and Furst saw $11,706,323. The total amount the company owed at this point was around $300 million.
Full Tilt Poker’s inability to pay its players becoming apparent, the authorities began to try to find investors for the room to cover all or part of the players’ losses. On 24 April, 2012, this part of the case was sufficiently closed: PokerStars agreed with the DoJ on the acquisition of Full Tilt Poker and took it upon itself to compensate players.
What happened to the FTP ex-leaders?
Ray Bitar
While players’ losses were covered by PokerStars, the lawsuits against the ex-leaders of Full Tilt Poker were not dropped. Bitar, who is the only one among the four main defendants who also has to face criminal charges, was heard by the court on 3 July, 2012. He was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the John F. Kennedy Airport where he arrived from Dublin with the aim to surrender himself to the authorities. While having had arranged that he would surrender himself as soon as he landed in New York, he was eventually arrested as new charges were added to the complaint.
The ex-FTP director was heard in the afternoon of the same day where he pleaded not guilty of the charges in front of Judge Debra Freeman. The new charges concerned the operations of the room after Black Friday: the FBI claimed that, despite the financial deficit of the site, Bitar continued to promote new deposits from non-US players and gave guarantees of the security of their money. At this point, however, FTP was entirely dependent on the new deposits to cover former withdrawals and operational costs.
According to the financial reports, handed in as appendices of the suit, FTP had only $2.1 million to its name in June, 2011, two months after its closure in the US market, while it had pending withdrawals of a total of $29.1 million, including $12.5 million owed to players. Considering that a total of $8 to $9 million worth of new deposits were made weekly at this time, these figures are all the more scary.
The prosecution asked for a denial of bail, calling attention to an improved flight risk on Bitar’s part, taking the new charges and a more serious expected sentence into consideration. The court finally let go of Bitar on a $2.4 million bail. The ex-leader was immediately placed under house arrest and has been being monitored with an electric tracer ever since. His case is still being investigated.
Rafe Furst
Charged with the theft of $11 million, Rafe Furst was the first to strike a deal with the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. While details of the agreement of 27 November, 2012 are scarcely known, all charges against Furst were dropped while the Attorney’s Office confiscated his bank account in Switzerland with an unknown balance. In addition, Furst paid $150,000 to the Office, which is planned to be used in the compensation of US players.
Howard Lederer
Lederer, who has $42 million to pay back, made an agreement on 18 December, 2012 with the Attorney’s Office. According to the pieces of information that have surfaced, the Office confiscated the following items from Lederer:
- All funds in the Lloyds TSB International account ($401,000)
- All funds in further Lloyds accounts for a total of $168,000
- All funds in the LPL Financial Accounts (amount not stated)
- His property at 309 Kingsclear Court in Las Vegas
- $30,000. representing proceeds traceable to the sale of the 5426 Fawn Chase Way property
- All proceeds traceable to the sale of the 2735 Twin Palms Circle property ($440,000)
- A 1965 Shelby Cobra automobile
Lederer paid out an additional $1.25 million and agreed not to be involved in any way in any online gambling enterprise operation in the United States. The Office had previously wanted to forfeit Lederer’s home on Hawk Ridge Drive, Las Vegas as well, in addition to a property at Skybird Court, a property in California, several automobiles and three Wells Fargo accounts, while these were eventually left in his possession.
In spite of the seemingly huge amount forfeited from Lederer, the total sum falls way short of what he stole from FTP parent company Tiltware LLC’s account, according to the DoJ file suit.
Apparently, Mr and Mrs Lederer threw a party for 150 to celebrate the agreement on the night of its signing in a luxurious manor they own.
Chris Ferguson
On 21 February, 2013, Chris Ferguson also agreed with the US Attorney’s Office. Charged with a $25 million theft, Ferguson has to give up his previously confiscated bank account at Citibank with an unknown balance. Moreover, Ferguson pays $2.35 million and also accepts not to take part in any online gambling enterprise operating in the US.
Despite the agreements, none of the defendants have pleaded guilty, neither have Bitar. The prosecution had originally demanded $45.5 million from Lederer, $42 million form Ferguson, $40.8 million from Bitar and $11.7 million from Furst.
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