Full Tilt Poker Blew $444 Million Of It's Players Money
 

http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/...s-new-york.htm

Full Tilk Poker, an online poker company that illegally paid its board members over $440 million from its player accounts, was "a global Ponzi scheme," said federal prosecutors Tuesday.

The initial complaint, filed in April 2011, alleged that Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar and board members Lederer, Ferguson and Rafael Furst defrauded players of $300 million by failing to maintain sufficient funds to pay out the players' deposits and winnings.

Prosecuters now accuse the executives of transferring player funds to their own accounts in Switerzland and other offshore locations, according to a Forbes report.

As of March, the company had only $60 million left in its bank accounts while owing around $390 million to gamblers around the world.

i understand scheme, you have 1000$ in your account, but just 100$ covered, sweet

This surprises you how?

ruined it for everyone

not at all.

I read in one article that Chris Furgeson got almost $85 million of it.

i've never trusted any online poker sites... even the card draws seemed suspect... The only card games in the world where you will see a royal flush beat out a straight flush once a week instead of once in a lifetime...

Oh wait.. sounds like some banks I know.

Same scam that Epassorte Played.

We need James "Rick" Perry's opinion on this.

I certainly won't say it's a false accusation, but I certainly don't trust the word of the U.S. Government either. When I played poker online at Full Tilt, I never had a problem cashing out any winnings. I cashed out a 16k check from Poker Stars which came 10 days later without issue. Maybe I was lucky, who knows.

You got payed before the shit hit the fan.

Sure, everyone could cash out before black friday hit. When the Feds finally cut off USA players from Pokerstars, Full Tilt and UB last April it caused a run on withdrawals from USA players. Pokerstars was able to payout all requests within a couple of weeks, yet there are thousands of USA players that have not been paid out by Full Tilt nearly five months later. Phil Ivey cut ties from Full Tilt and didn't play in this years WSOP in protest of Full Tilt.

Post reported to FBI, DHS, ATF, FFA, NSA, SEC, FDA, FTC, FCC, CIA, and IRS... :thumbsup




.

Dont forget the new big dog. DNI.

One of the keys to a thriving ponzi scheme is to actually pay out people like clockwork so they feel more confident and in turn recommend the scheme to their friends/family.

That's some heavy duty cash.

Ain't that the truth...

Epassporte?

we all know this from long ago..

THE SAME happened with CASINOS or other poker sites.. but they are still alive.

Mike Matasow on Full Tilt Poker: “Lederer Depressed, Ivey Lawsuit Crock of S***”

.

In a lengthy interview with ****.com Full Tilt Poker pro Mike “The Mouth” Matasow stated that the primary face of FTP, Howard Lederer, is having trouble talking to anybody these days as “he is so depressed”.


NO USA PLAYERS

Full Tilt Poker has not paid back its US players since an indictment was handed down against the company’s two founders on April 15. Both were charged with money laundering and bank fraud in connection with misrepresenting online poker transactions as dog food and golf balls.

On June 29, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission yanked Full Tilt Poker’s license, essentially knocking what was the world’s second largest virtual card room offline. Players around the world have been unable to receive payment.

Matasow continued insisting that FTP will pay back everyone.

Other talking points, :

*FTP was spending "something like $15 million a month" in marketing to compete with Pokerstars




*Tom Dwan has $1 million on FTP

*Dan Cates has $6 million on Full Tilt

*Someone who has it out for Phil Ivey is leaking "wrong" information to the website and "hurt chances of FTP players getting their money back"

*Phil Ivey's lawsuit against FTP was a "crock of shit" and he "didn't think when he filed it"

And, drum roll please….

No offense to Mr. Matasow, but we've heard this one about 75 times already….

*"I believe by next Friday that something will come out"

the crazy thing is that ftp was a great business if run legit, and would have made a stack of money for the owners, now they'll hopefully go to prison and lose their ill gotten gains.

Whoever wrote that article couldn't even spell Mike's name correctly, its "Matusow".

aka fractional reserve banking :)

Unbelievable FTP was the only one I used when Party Poker got shut down in USA

They seemed too big to fail, but it only took the two guys at the top to bring them down, crazy

Nobody would have ever found out they had such small reserves in comparison to the amount of outstanding chip balances had there not been a mass withdrawal from USA players. They were spending a fortune on advertising/branding, so new players were still streaming through the door bringing in new deposits and they were able to cover the small % who requested withdrawals.

money mallicked? Site is still up

seems like they just flat out stole much of it and transferred it to offshore accounts.

:thumbsup:2 cents:

With this going on, who's to say their random card generators weren't fixed?

Someone is going to jail for a long time.

So they where running the site like a bank :2 cents:

:thumbsup

Yeah ALL of them! :disgust

banks are at least somewhat accountable, have to follow strict regulations, their accounts get audited, etc... poker sites on the other hand can do whatever they want... huge difference... :2 cents:

I think we'll have to agree to disagree Woj :pimp

Banks/Bankers have not been held accountable for their actions that caused the credit crunch. Full Tilt Poker being charged with a Giant Ponzi Scheme is a joke in comparison to what Banks/Bankers have done over the past decade.

Housing Boom = GIANT Ponzi Scheme

Poker sites didn't cause bank runs throughout the western world... huge difference... :2 cents:

So where would you rather keep your savings, in a local bank or some poker site run by some random guy out of some island in the middle of nowhere? :winkwink:

Very few people lost $$$ deposited in a bank since FDIC was introduced, that's clearly not the case for poker sites, 3rd party payment systems like epass, etc... :2 cents:

You obviously don't know how ponzi schemes work, this isn't a case of the US govt trying to lie to you.

The Ponzi scheme companies don't keep 100% of the money collected and refuse to pay everyone. To an everyday user like yourself it looks like business as usual because the simple fact is there is a lot of people who leave their money inside the company. For the people like yourself who do requests checks, well the company is taking in a lot more from existing and new players on a daily basis then it was paying out. Therefore, there was a lot of money sitting in their business account which allowed them to keep stealing off the top without anyone noticing. The only time that people catch on is when new money stops coming in and there is a run on deposits, which is what happened.

You can not like banks all you want, and some of their practices have been suspect but to compare banks to a ponzi scheme like full tilt poker did, epassporte, or Bernie madoff is just makes you sound loony.

The housing boom had nothing to do with a poniz scheme. That was just hype + lending money to people who couldn't afford it and shouldn't have been getting a loan.

not exactly. pooling bad mortgages into complex derivatives & selling them privately, with no exchange or oversight. The ponzi was selling these fraud securities to other banks, investors, pension funds etc. When the mortgages failed, the people holding the derivatives were the suckers. & the bankers walked away with fortunes.

Yucky news :( tear.

as far as im concerned, its the stupid government, banning onling gambling, that allows this kind of shit. No different then when vegas was run by the mob, full tilt was just running a skim.

If they would regulate the business, legit gaming corporations can run poker sites & peoples money would be safe. At least until they lose it to the casino.

stupid government in the pockets of brick and mortar gambling operations. :2 cents:

WTF? If the "stupid govt" wouldn't have shut down online gambling in the US then those people wouldn't have stolen everyone's money. :warning :upsidedow

The scam just wouldn't have been exposed yet, and they would have likely scammed people for even more money before having it collapse on them.

well your nick is appropriate lol

In other shocking news, Zebras were found with white and black stripes.

:1orglaugh good one :thumbsup It's the first time that's been posted here...

Someone gets it! :thumbsup

Dude it's the same type of fraud but with much bigger players involved, you're right few people lost money but what they got instead was higher taxes, massive public spending cuts which will lead inevitably to a much lower standard of living, same difference :upsidedow

Wow.. Really? Someone needs to go do some reading as to what exactly a Ponzi scheme is...

No doubt.